


The Great ComicCon Caper

by trbl



Series: Trying Something New [2]
Category: Big Bang Theory
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-17
Updated: 2012-06-17
Packaged: 2017-11-07 23:55:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/436831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trbl/pseuds/trbl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follow-up to "The Superior Colliculus Engagement". Penny, Sheldon *Shenny* and the gang go to Comic*Con. But, of course, things are never that simple. Intrigue, danger, romance, and of course, humor. At least that's what I'm shooting for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N I have never been to Comic*Con, so please overlook any errors regarding the convention. And there's a lot of "Set-Up" in this part.
> 
> As always, none of these lovely characters belong to me. Oh, if only I could have my very own Sheldon. Sigh.

Penny would like to pretend that attending Comic*Con with her nerdy buddies was all their idea, but the truth was, she had become curious. Year after year the guys were all excited for weeks, hell, months beforehand, and she wanted to see what the big deal was. Bernadette was also going, so at least she wouldn't be the lone defender of all things female.

After the symposium debacle (debacle, really? She was spending way too much time with Sheldon!) Penny decided that she would rather drive her car, than be subjected to Sheldon the Travel Supervisor. This plan was trumped by Sheldon's announcement that he would be riding with Penny. She looked at him askance. "Sheldon, Honey, you know I'm not playing any of your weird car games, right?"

"I am aware that your lack of familiarity with the Periodic Table would render any desire to play car games moot."

"That's a yes, right?" She asked Leonard quietly.

"Yes." He mumbled back.

"Okay, Sweetie, but our normal interaction rules apply, got it?"

"Yes, Penny."

"Excuse me, but what normal interaction rules?" Leonard demanded. He was a little surprised and, okay, put out that Sheldon was choosing to ride when Penny rather than himself, and really surprised that Penny was willing to let him.

Penny gestured at Sheldon to answer. He had that pleased smile he got when he was able to share his knowledge as he recited the "rules". "I'm not allowed to be insulting, condescending or patronizing. And Penny won't be sarcastic or kick me out."

"Very good, Sweetie." Penny approved, with a warm smile.

Sheldon preened. Leonard, Howard and Raj all just looked shocked. Howard asked, "How did you get him to agree to that?"

Penny looked surprised. "I asked him?"

The others exchanged a look: it could possibly be that easy, could it? Penny and Sheldon exchanged a look of their own: Those guys are a little dim and what the heck business is it of theirs anyway?

"Penny?"

"Yes, Sheldon?"

"Do you have a costume to wear?"

"Uh, no, not really."

"You really should wear one."

"Yeah," Howard interjected. "I have one that you could wear." He leered at her.

"Won't Bernadette being wearing it?" Penny asked sweetly.

Howard's face fell, as he realized that Bernadette's presence would cramp his style.

"There is time for you to make one, Penny," Sheldon offered.

"Yeah, no, that's not gonna' happen, Sheldon."

"Would you like me to make one for you?" The guys all stared at him. Howard and Raj with hope that he would make something revealing, and Leonard in shock.

"Such as?"

"Original Starfleet uniform?"

She pursed her lips in thought. "Okay, tell me what kind of material to get."

"It would be better if I purchase the material to ensure that it is the correct material. You may pay me back later"

She shrugged. "Okay, Honey."

Sheldon was pleased that Penny was going to Comic*Con, and that she would be wearing a costume. He hadn't been certain that she would allow him to ride with her, but had "thrown it out there" on the off chance that she was feeling benevolent towards him. She had been lately.

Ever since the day that he had gone to her for assistance in engaging his Superior Colliculus, something in their dynamic had shifted. While they had non-verbally agreed to pretend that he hadn't almost kissed her (and that she had acquiesced), Sheldon felt certain that the change was at least partially related to that. The rest of was probably just that they had enjoyed spending that day, and subsequent "Anything-can-happen" Thursdays together.

He had decided, finally, to embrace the concept of "Anything-can-happen" Thursday, so Penny and he often did things that he for one wouldn't normally do. It really was quite a lot of fun. Penny often came up with something silly, but not too far beneath his dignity for them to do. And once, they even went to a movie in a non-Sheldon approved theater. It had been surprisingly pleasant. The theater didn't have Red Vines, but everything else had been perfect. Even the movie had been enjoyable.

It never occurred to him to wonder that Penny suddenly had those Thursdays off; he was used to the world accommodating his schedule. If he had considered the matter at all, he would simply have been glad that it worked out so conveniently. Ever since they had reached what Penny teasingly called their "normal interaction rules," they had gotten along much better. It was more pleasant to spend time with someone who wasn't being sarcastic at him. And if he were being honest, he was certain that it was more pleasant for Penny to spend time with someone who wasn't being condescending, patronizing or insulting to her. It did seem that her mood had improved. At least towards him. He had noticed a certain coolness towards Leonard.

Penny took Sheldon to buy the material for her costume, surprised that he hadn't suggested it when they were talking about buying the material in the first place. She wandered around waiting on Sheldon to make his choice, puzzling over the status of her friendship with Sheldon. As much as she'd tried to forget it, she remembered the look on his face when he'd stalked towards her, prepared to take a kiss from her. It had been predatory and hot as hell. Her knees had gone weak, and she had submitted. And then inspiration had struck him, and he'd left her standing there, bereft and wanting, actually wanting his kiss.

She had almost succeeded in pushing it all to a back burner in her brain, when he had glided his eyes over her body appraisingly, mentally measuring her for the costume he planned to make her.

As if that hadn't been bad enough, he had actually measured her. He'd been a perfect gentleman about it, never hinting at any impropriety, but his cheeks had been flushed as the measuring tape had slid from around her breasts, indicating his awareness of this *something* now present between them. Sheldon aware of something intangible; would wonders never cease?

As she saw Sheldon approaching her with a bunch of material in his basket, she once more ruthlessly pushed it all from her mind. Aware or not, Sheldon had no interest in such things. She smiled brightly at him. "Find what you were looking for, Sheldon?"

"I believe that I have everything."

With a nod, Penny took the basket from him, and got in line to pay. On the car ride home they discussed the boots for the costume. Sheldon asked if she'd found any, and she told him that she had. They were an exact match.

The next several weeks flew by as Sheldon made her costume. Penny worked extra shifts so that she would have spending money at the convention. Finally, after several fittings, Sheldon declared the costume complete, and she tried it on one last time, with the boots so that he could be sure she was in canon. "It will have to do," he pronounced.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Bazinga." He said with a tiny grin.

"One of these days, Sheldon, one of these days." But there was more affection in her voice than threat. Even Sheldon recognized that.

He told her to go and change and bring the costume back to him for proper storage until the convention. He placed in the garment bag with his, and hung them carefully in his closet. They were ready for Comic*Con. Or so they thought.


	2. Chapter 2

The car ride to San Diego for Comic*Con was surprisingly pleasant. Penny still didn't understand why Sheldon had decided that he would rather ride with her than the guys, but didn't object to spending time with him as long as he behaved himself. Actually, it was more than "didn't object". She enjoyed spending time with him. And wasn't that a strange turn of events?

For his part Sheldon had stuck to their agreement, and the two of them had managed to have an interesting discussion on comic books canon versus movie canon. The two and a half hour drive went far more quickly than Penny would have imagined. And not once had she considered shoving him out of the car. They certainly had come a long way.

Sheldon would admit that he lacked skill in interpersonal relations. He thought, however, that he had become familiar enough with Penny to be able to read her somewhat. And he was fairly certain that she was not displeased with his company on the drive. And he was quite pleased with hers as well. Things were going quite well.

They arrived at the hotel and got checked in. Penny looked around a bit agog at the convention goers already present in the hotel lobby. Sheldon and the guys were starting to look comparatively normal.

As Penny and Sheldon both got off the elevator on the 11th floor, it occurred to her to wonder just how close her room was to Sheldon's. It would be funny if they were across the hall from each other, like at home. She wondered, briefly, why Sheldon and Leonard weren't sharing a room. She'd assumed, after that symposium from hell that they would. But she suspected that asking Sheldon would only stir up trouble.

As it turned out they were next door, and had an adjoining door. That's what she got for letting him make the reservation. If it had been any of the other guys, she'd have kicked up a fuss, assuming foul play. But she was pretty sure Sheldon had no ulterior motives. Before the day when he'd been stuck, she'd have been 100 percent sure of it. She didn't allow herself to consider how she'd react if he did make a pass at her.

They parted ways at his door, each going into their own room to unpack. A few minutes later, Sheldon knock, knock, knocked on the adjoining door.

"What do you need, Sweetie?"

"I thought that you might need your costume." He held up the costume that he had made her as a visual aid.

"Oh, do I need that for today? I thought that you guys were just getting the lay of the land."

"Yes, we are. That in no way mitigates the fact that you will need to get into costume."

"Okay, Honey, you're the expert." She submitted with a smile. Sheldon's breath caught a little at her acquiescence. It instantly reminded of what he had come to think of as "That day which must not be mentioned," or more simply as "That day." He hurriedly excused himself to get ready.

Twenty minutes later there was another knock, knock, knock at the adjoining door. She opened it, and Sheldon stood there in his Spock costume.

"Are you ready, Penny?" He asked her.

"Nearly, I just need like two minutes."

"Very well," he seated himself on one of the chairs at the small table.

She spared him a glance and then went to put on lip gloss and then pull on her boots. "Well?" She asked him at last.

"Yes," he said simply. Penny was suddenly certain that there was sub-texting that she was unclear on. She shot Sheldon a questioning look. He met her eyes squarely, making her think that she must have been mistaken.

Penny would have been reassured to know that she wasn't the only one sensing subtext with Sheldon. As Leonard stood with the others waiting for Penny and Sheldon, he found himself hoping that Penny's costume, which none of them had seen, wasn't "Uhura" red. Ever since the day that Penny had helped un-stick Sheldon (which had somehow required the removing of his top two layers, and club music), Leonard had been convinced that Sheldon was interested in Penny in some weird Sheldon-y way. Sheldon choosing to ride with her, rather than the guys hadn't helped. A red uniform on Penny would confirm it in Leonard's mind.

Leonard tried to remind himself that he had a beautiful girlfriend, Priya. But he couldn't quite beat down the part of him that didn't want to see Penny in a relationship. Not a good one. And if Sheldon was actually pursuing Penny, there was no doubt but that it would be the real deal. Sheldon always threw himself into whatever it was.

The elevator pinged, Sheldon stepped out, and Leonard childishly shut his eyes. "Not red," Leonard mumbled to himself over and over. He opened his eyes and smiled at Penny in the Medical blue uniform. As he took in her French-twist hairstyle, his relief was short lived. Sheldon had done Penny up as Nurse Chapel. From the Classic Star Trek series. Sheldon's favorite. The one Sheldon considered canon.

Sheldon was interested in Penny.

Leonard immediately started talking himself out of it. Nurse Chapel had been in love with Spock, but Spock had never reciprocated.

They had kissed, though.

But, only under alien coercion.

Right? Right.

Penny followed the guys into the huge dealer room and was immediately buffeted around by the press of bodies. Suddenly a large hand grabbed hers, and she was gently pulled to Sheldon's side. "Penny, I suggest that due to your own lack of height that you stay close to my taller frame, as it may ameliorate the effect of so many others in relatively close quarters."

"Hey," she protested. "Five seven's hardly short."

He merely raised his eyebrows and let his fingers loosen their hold on her.

She clasped his all the tighter. "Okay, you win. " Suddenly she smiled up at him. "My hero again." It didn't occur to her to question Sheldon's willingness to hold her hand. It wasn't really that weird the way things had been between them lately.

He smiled what Penny privately called his cat-grin at her, which was small, a little smug, had nothing to do with The Joker, and was strangely endearing. He carefully led her through the crowd. She wasn't sure how he did it, thin as he was, but he managed to glide through the mass of bodies, bringing her effortlessly with him. He would squeeze her hand in warning before he stopped at a booth, a warning that she appreciated.

Howard caught sight of them at one point, and nudged Raj. The two exchanged a long knowing look, and then scanned the crowd looking for Leonard. They spotted him at last, standing off to the side staring morosely at Sheldon and Penny. They saw him shake his head and wade back into the crowd.

Penny had a surprisingly good time wandering around with Sheldon, and he seemed to make an effort to find a couple of stalls that would be of interest to her. One was of particular interest. A dealer was selling hand-made accessories. They were science-fiction-y in theme, but it got Penny to thinking. She looked up to find Sheldon watching her, his eyebrows raised. She simply nodded in response.

By the time they made it through what appeared to Penny to be a human maze to the end, it was dinner time. They were all supposed to meet up in the lobby of their hotel. The others were already there when Penny and Sheldon made their appearance. The others were all staring at the two of them. She knew they weren't late, not with Sheldon with her. She followed Leonard's gaze to her hand. Which was still clasped within Sheldon's.

"Sheldon saved me from being trampled." She offered with a warm smile up at Sheldon, as she released his hand.

"Well, wasn't that thoughtful of him?" Leonard said in a bitchy tone.

"Yeah, Leonard, it was." She replied in the same tone. What was his problem, anyway?

Leonard took a deep breath as if he were going to say something, then let it out with a huff. He had no right, and he knew it. He bowed his head in defeat. "Sorry, the crowd has given me a headache."

Sheldon spoke up, "exacerbated, no doubt, by hunger. I suggest that we go and get dinner."

"Yeah, you're right. Let's go eat." Leonard agreed.

Of course, Sheldon had a schedule as to where they ate each night of the convention. As they all sat at the table, Howard spoke. "Hey, did we sign up for this Murder Mystery-type thing they're doing?"

Sheldon's eyes lit up. "Penny and I did."

"We did?" She asked around a bite.

"It was optional with the reservation. The hotel is raising funds for Cancer Research."

"Well, I'm all for that, but…a Murder Mystery?" Penny looked hesitant. "I'm not sure that…."

"We can be partners if you are hesitant regarding your crime solving abilities." Sheldon offered offhandedly.

"Well, then we're sure to win." She grinned at him.

His cat-grin made another appearance. "Indeed."

The rest of the dinner discussion consisted of theories regarding the nature of the mystery. Sheldon said that it was foolish to form theories before the meeting that was set to disclose the rules and specifics of the mystery. While everyone agreed in principle with him, it was hard to refrain from speculating: would it be a murder? Or perhaps a kidnapping? While it said murder mystery type that hardly guaranteed a murder.

Once they'd all finished eating, they went over the itinerary, deciding what panels they were all doing and which they were splitting up for. Penny wanted to attend one panel that none of the others were interested in, but other than that she would pretty much be with Sheldon the whole time. She wasn't sure how Sheldon felt about that, but she knew him well enough to know that if he wanted free of her presence that he'd bluntly tell her. She gave a half smile. Yep, Sheldon was brutally honest.

They all rode up in the elevator together, and only she and Sheldon were on the same floor. The others were scattered through the hotel. Of course, once Bernadette (who had a lab that day and couldn't come with the rest) arrived in the morning, she and Howard would be sharing. Maybe Bernadette would want to go to the "Women in SciFi" panel that Penny wanted to attend. She didn't really want to go alone.

As she and Sheldon separated at their doors, he stopped. "Are you in for the evening, Penny?" He asked.

"I think so. I'm kinda' tired, I'll probably just take a hot bath, and veg in front of the TV. Why?"

"The hotel shows special programming on the in room channels. I had intended to watch the classic "Forbidden Planet", if you would like to join me."

A smile blossomed across her pretty face. "That sounds good, Honey. I'll see you…when?"

"It starts at 8:00."

"Okay. I'll see you at 8, then." She said with a smile.

Penny relaxed in the tub, letting the warm water soothe her tired muscles. When she was dressed in her shorts and tank-top, she hesitated, and threw her pink robe over them. She grabbed some of the soda that she had packed (at Sheldon's suggestion) and hoped that he had ice. She put her room key in the robe pocket and at exactly 8 knocked on the adjoining door.

Sheldon promptly opened it, cast an approving eye over her, and stepped aside so that she could enter. She waited to see where he had claimed his "Spot" and took the other chair. Sheldon was once more smiling his little cat-grin, but she had no idea why.

Sheldon was pleased as he sat through the opening credits. Penny had dressed modestly, for her, indicating awareness, packed soda as he had recommended, waited to see which seat was his, and was quietly sipping her soda from the glass with ice that he had thoughtfully provided for her. Things were going very well indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Thanks TempestJo for the use of Sheldon's cat-grin: What a great descriptor!
> 
> A/N Obviously nothing recognizable belong to me, but "Forbidden Planet" seemed to be an appropriate homage to Leslie Nielson and Anne Francis, both of whom passed recently.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Just so we're clear regarding Spoilers: I'm going off the reservation, and only picking the parts that I like. As SpaceAnJL put it, I'm completely "off piste" and "going rogue"; making my own canon, although you may recognize some bits from this season i.e. 'The Cohabitation Formulation' and 'The Zarnecki Incursion', There may also be references to SpaceAnJL's lovely world of "The Paladin Protocol", used with her generous permission. And speaking of SpaceAnJL:
> 
> As always, thanks to SpaceAnJL for being a fabulous sounding board. This fic was improved immeasurably by her input :) Any mistakes, however are entirely my own.

Sheldon was hesitant about knocking on the door that adjoined his room to Penny's in the morning. Over the nearly five years that he known Penny, he had developed a list of rules that applied only to her. Such as do not attempt to ask her for a ride or any favors during certain days of the month, have a small supply of chocolate handy on certain other days of the month, and so on. But the Number One item on his list was to never, ever wake Penny up. Certainly not before 11 a.m. It was now 8:30, and they were supposed to meet for breakfast with the others, and then start the panels.

As he stood, debating on whether to knock on the door, it swung open, and Penny stood there, fully dressed and ready to go. "Oh, good morning, Sweetie. Are you ready?"

"Yes, indeed I am. I was uncertain regarding your 11 o'clock rule."

She gave him a smile, "Aw, Honey, it's not in effect at Comic*Con. But thank you for being so considerate."

Considerate? He wasn't being considerate; he was acting his own well-developed sense of self-preservation. But, far be it for him to correct her assumption of his good intentions.

"I see that you are ready."

"Yep." She popped the 'p'.

"Then I suggest that we head to break our fast with the others."

She pulled her door closed as she stepped into Sheldon's room. He closed his door once she was through, and together they exited his room and headed for the bank of elevators. Raj was already in the elevator, and waved a greeting to Penny and Sheldon. "Morning, Sweetie."

"Good morning, Raj." Sheldon intoned. When the elevator reached the lobby level, Penny, Sheldon and Raj looked around for the others. They saw Leonard, and headed in his direction. Behind them, Howard stepped off of one of the other elevators. They heard him, before they saw him. "Okay, Bernadette, I'm in the Lobby, where…? Oh, I see you." They turned as one to see him waving frantically at Bernadette. Gathering Leonard as they passed him, en mass they crossed to Bernadette. Penny stopped short. Priya was standing beside Bernadette, who was shooting Penny an apologetic look.

"Priya," Leonard exclaimed happily. "You said that you had no interest in this kind of thing."

Priya seemed a little embarrassed. "Well, Raj loves this stuff, Leonard and so do you. I thought that perhaps I should check it out for myself." Her eyes kept darting to Penny as she spoke.

"Well, that's great." Leonard seemed genuinely happy to see her, and Priya's stiff posture relaxed just a little. Raj hugged his sister, who returned it with a squeeze.

"Hey, Priya." Penny greeted her.

"Penny." Priya nodded to Sheldon. "Sheldon."

"Hello, Priya."

Meanwhile, Howard has been enthusiastically kissing Bernadette. Finally they break apart and the group ambled off to breakfast. Penny was still about half asleep, and tried to put sugar in her coffee for the second time.

"Penny, I believe that you have already added your customary two sugars to your coffee." Sheldon said before she could open two more sugars.

"What, Honey?" She asked him. He repeated his statement. "Oh," she said, and took a cautious sip. "Of course you're right. Thanks, Sheldon." Warm green eyes smiled at him.

"You're welcome, Penny." He gave a tiny version of his cat-grin at her.

"What's our first panel, Sweetie?"

"Joss Whedon."

A tiny frown appeared on Penny's face, which cleared quickly. "'Buffy' and 'Firefly'?"

A pleased smile from Sheldon. "Yes, indeed, Penny."

"What time?"

"At 10 o'clock."

She blinked sleepily. "Do we have time to hit a booth in the Dealer's room?"

"Perhaps. If you have a specific booth in mind."

"Yeah, I saw this really cute necklace."

"Very well."

Priya looked confusedly between Sheldon and Penny, and then at Leonard's resigned expression. More tension left her slight frame.

"Oh, that reminds me," Penny said suddenly, slightly more alert after her coffee. "Bernadette, do you want to go to a Women in Sci-Fi panel with me at 5?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Penny. Howard and I are going to a panel at 5."

"Oh," Penny sighed. Her eyes landed on Priya. "I don't suppose that you want to go, Priya?"

Priya was surprised to find herself answering "Yes."

By Penny's expression, so was she. Her smile, however, was genuine. "Great, wanna' meet in the Lobby, at say 4:30?"

"Very well."

"Penny," Sheldon interrupted. "If you wish to make your purchase before the panel, then I suggest that we go."

"Okay, Sheldon."

Penny stayed close to Sheldon as they entered the Dealer room; her near crushing of yesterday was fresh in her mind. She led them to the booth where she had noticed the necklace the day before.

As they stood in front of the stall, Sheldon eyed the jewelry selection. "Penny, I do not see a necklace."

"Yeah, Sweetie, I know. It's not out, I saw it in an open crate." The dealer came over to see what he could help them with. "Hi, I'm looking for a silver necklace with a baby blue stone." The dealer gave them a once over, and turned away. He returned with the necklace in question.

"This it?" He asked.

"Yes," Penny replied as she took it from him. She looked it over and handed to Sheldon for his inevitable inspection. He handed it back after a thorough look.

The dealer named his price and Sheldon took it upon himself to haggle on her behalf. She had to admit that he got a better deal from the dealer than she had expected.

She threw the necklace over her head and admired the way it looked.

"That necklace is not canon." Sheldon stated.

"I know, but it matches the uniform. Don't you like it?" Her eyes were wide.

"While the color does indeed match the uniform, it is not canon. Nurse Chapel did not wear such a thing. It would not have been appropriate with her uniform. "

As they spoke they moved out of the dealer room and headed for the panel. They passed a group of vampire wannabes. One of them gave Penny a long hard look. Sheldon edged behind her, and she narrowed her eyes at the pseudo-vamp.

Sheldon moved from behind her as the vamps passed. "I repeat, the necklace is not canon."

Penny sighed, and looked up at him with a small pout. He merely stared back at her. She sighed again, this time in resignation and removed the necklace. "You're the expert."

They met up with the others outside the room where the panel was to be held, and together they all entered. Penny found the panel more interesting that she had expected to, although Bernadette and Priya both looked lost. Howard was trying to explain quietly to Bernadette as Leonard did the same for Priya. Penny felt just a little smug that she didn't need much explained to her. They did mention a program that Penny wasn't familiar with. "Sheldon," she whispered as she leaned in close to him. "What's 'Angel'?"

"Buffy spinoff. I will explain more later."

She nodded, which he felt against his shoulder. "Okay, thanks." She settled back into her seat.

After the panel, they attended a meeting regarding the Mystery. Everyone was given a briefing packet, and an overview. The "crime" was only hinted at in the broadest terms. Something was being smuggled. Whether it was diamonds, rare comic books, drugs or something else was part of the Mystery.

After the meeting, Penny, Sheldon and Raj were headed to one panel, and the rest of the group were headed to another one. After that panel, they decided to take a break in the Con-suite, which was very crowded. Penny was drinking a bottle of much needed water, when a creature with too many arms, bumped someone else's arm causing them to spill their soda on Penny's costume.

Sheldon gave a gasp, and snatched up a wad of napkins and began dabbing at the spillage, right down the right side of Penny's chest. "Sheldon," she hissed as his hand dabbed over her breast.

With a fierce blush, he all but jumped away from her, and pulled his hands in tightly to his body. "I-I …."

"I know, Sheldon." She assured him. "Don't worry about it. Now, I'm going to see if I can find some club soda or something."

"Nonsense, Penny," Sheldon spoke with his customary arrogance. Only the way he held himself away from her, hinted at his discomfort. "I have an exemplary stain removal kit in my room. The quicker we get it taken care of, the less likely it is to stain. Raj, we shall see you later."

Penny found herself following Sheldon. As they neared the elevators, the vamp that had eyed Penny earlier approached them. He handed her a piece of paper, which she assumed has his phone number on it.

"Sorry," she told him, with a vague gesture at Sheldon. "I'm not interested."

Vamp-guy spoke harshly. "Look, I don't have much time before they realize that I'm gone. Be careful who you give that to. It's all there." Some of the guy's urgency conveyed itself to Penny, who reluctantly took the paper. The guy scuttled off. Penny and Sheldon exchanged a look.

"Do you think that was part of the 'Mystery'?" She did the air quotes that Sheldon was so fond of.

"Perhaps, however, we have delayed long enough. That stain may already have set." He herded her towards the elevators.

Once at their respective doors, they part. Sheldon gathered up his state of the art stain removal kit, and knocked on the adjoining door.

A frustrated Penny answered it, struggling with her costume. "I can't get the damned thing unzipped," she said as she turned and walked back to the bathroom. She tried to look at her back in the mirror, but Sheldon pre-empted her.

"Please turn around, Penny." Green eyes met blue as Penny considered. Abruptly, she turned away. "Would you lean forward a bit, so that I can get more light?" He asked as his large hand pressed at the center of her back and gently pushed her forward.

As Penny leaned over the sink with Sheldon behind her, her eyes met his again, in the mirror. He took in their position, and she saw the same awareness that skittered down her spine darken his eyes. "Sheldon?" She asked softly, as she felt the heat rise in her face.

His eyes slid away from hers, and returned to the zipper even as he eased his body back a step. His own cheeks were stained with a matching blush. "Oh, here's the problem. A bit of material is caught." She felt his hands high on her back, and suddenly the zipper gave. As soon as she was unzipped, he vacated the bathroom.

She changed into her robe, and went into the bathroom. "I left it on the counter." She told him calmly.

He nodded and returned to the bathroom. Once he closed the door behind him, Penny scurried around to get dressed, not allowing herself to consider the strange scene with Sheldon. She put on something cute, since their next stop after lunch was autographs and photos.

The dealer who sold Penny her necklace was more than a little surprised to find a large Klingon asking about the same necklace. "I already sold that necklace, man."

"To whom?"

The dealer only knew that he was to sell the necklace to whoever asked for it. He had no idea why. So he had no qualms about saying that he had sold it to a pretty blond, dressed as Chapel, going around with a tall, skinny guy dressed as Spock.

After the autographs, Penny headed down to the Lobby to meet Priya. She felt a little awkward about it, but still thought that it was better than going to a panel alone. They sat quietly through the panel, and afterwards she suggested that the go to the hotel bar.

Penny texted Sheldon, as she knew how he would react if she weren't where he thought that she should be. Several guys, not all of them geeks, tried to hit on them, but they waved them off as they shared a pitcher of Margaritas.

They were both feeling pretty mellow, when Penny caught Priya giving her a Look. "You should be thanking me, you know." A slightly tipsy Penny said in response to that look.

"For what?" An also tipsy Priya asked.

"For training Leonard up. You should have seen him before." She took another drink, and then started to tell Priya about the Before version of Leonard.

"It sounds like you put a lot of effort into the relationship." Priya said thoughtfully. "Why did you break up with him?" This was the question that Priya had wondered about.

Penny sighed. "I wasn't in love with him. I love him dearly, but not…."

"You were together for a very long time." Priya pointed out.

"I thought I could, or maybe should love him. " Penny admitted after a long silence. Then a grin quirked her lips. "Despite his…er..shortcomings."

Priya gave a drunken giggle.

Penny continued. "I know, right? But despite *that* and well, let's be honest, he'll never run a marathon…."

Priya interrupted. "He is rather good at foreplay." She defended.

"Sure he is. Now."

"Oh."

They looked at each other and broke into raucous laughter. Once she got herself back under control, Penny continued. "He really appreciated me, you know? And was so different than the guys I usually date. What does Sheldon call them? Oh, Neanderthals. I miss that, but he's not perfect, that's for sure."

The women clinked glasses and started to laugh again. "No," said Priya. "That he is not. He plays with toys, and video games, and…."

Penny interrupted her. "No, not that stuff, that doesn't bother me, I kinda' like a lot of it, too. It's more, you know he's Sheldon's best friend, right?" Priya nodded. "I don't think he likes Sheldon much, he can be really mean to him, sometimes, like Sheldon doesn't have feelings or some crap like that. And he thinks I'm stupid. Leonard I mean."

"Does Sheldon not?"

"Well, yeah, kinda' but he thinks everyone is. At least compared to him. Which, let's be honest…. And Leonard, well, doesn't have a lot of patience."

"I have noticed this, also." Priya agreed. They shared a look, both thinking the same thing, how quickly he was "locked and loaded". They started to laugh again. It was at this auspicious moment that the others found them.

Leonard smiled, glad that the two women were getting along. Until they both looked at him, then each other and started to giggle.

Howard said, "Never let them compare notes, man."

Leonard was suddenly anxious to separate them. "Er, Priya, can you walk?"

"Of course, Leonard." She replied. She managed to get to her feet, and leaned heavily on Leonard. He led her out of the bar, smugly aware of the disbelieving looks that were being cast his way.

"Penny, are you too incapacitated for dinner?" Sheldon asked, a stern note in his voice.

"'Course not, Honey." Penny made it to her feet with a lot less trouble than Priya had. "Amateur," she muttered under her breath.

But his Vulcan hearing picked it up. He shot her a sharp look. "Amateur status is preferred."

Penny met his eyes. She saw that he was genuinely worried about her. Given what she knew about his father, she wanted to reassure him. Her own eyes softened. "I hear you, Sheldon." He nodded and herded her out of the bar with a gentle hand at the center of her back, oblivious to the envious looks from the other men in the bar.

Dinner was a little awkward, Priya was still giggly, Leonard was nervous, Howard, Bernadette and Raj were curious about what had caused the apparent bonding between Penny and Priya. Penny drank a lot of water, and gently suggested to Priya that she do so as well. With a grateful smile, Priya followed her advice.

Sheldon nodded in approval.

After dinner they all separated to head to their rooms. As Penny and Sheldon stepped off of the elevator, she asked him if there another classic movie tonight.

"Indeed, there is. Would you care to join me?"

"I would." She replied, with a grin as she opened her door.

"Then I shall see you at 8 o'clock."

"You shall," she teased. He merely gave her a tiny smile in reply; pleased that it had been she who had suggested joining him. Things were progressing ahead of schedule.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -A/N Comic*Con typically runs from Wednesday through Sunday. Our gang arrived on Wednesday afternoon, and the current chapter starts Friday morning. Hope that clears up any confusion :)

Despite Penny's assurance that the 11:00 rule didn't apply at the convention, Sheldon was tentative when he knocked on the adjoining door.

"Oh, good," Penny said when she opened the door. She promptly turned her back on him. "Zip me up will ya', Honey?"

Presented with Penny's back, bare save for her bra, Sheldon was disproportionately nervous, as he slowly and carefully zipped her costume up.

"Thanks, Sheldon," Penny said as she moved a step away and turned to face him. She quickly studied his face, before she continued to speak. "Let me just get my boots on and I'll be ready." She pulled her boots on and with a casual smile stood next to him.

"Are you not wearing lip-gloss today?" He found himself asking.

She blinked at him, "Thank you, I'd forgotten." A smile quirked her lips. That was interesting; Sheldon was pretty much only aware of what he wanted to be aware of. Yesterday it was coffee and today…. She applied her lip-gloss, and together they left. "What's on the agenda for today, Sweetie?" She asked once they were in the elevator.

"After breakfast there is a meeting regarding the Mystery. Then there is the Doctor Who panel, and afterwards autographs with cast members of 'Battlestar Galactica'. "

"And then lunch." She finished with a grin.

"And then lunch." He confirmed, with a quirk of his lips that was almost a smile.

Breakfast was pleasant, the tension between Penny and Priya was mostly gone, and Howard and Bernadette kept their PDA's to a minimum, for which everyone else was grateful.

After breakfast, those participating in the Mystery (which was everyone except Priya and Leonard) attended the meeting. There, they met the police detective who was investigating the pretend crime. Sheldon did not like him. He especially did not like the way his gaze lingered on Penny's legs.

Detective Rogers started the meeting by saying that a prop from the second "Terminator" movie, which had been on display, had been stolen and was being smuggled out of the country. He needed their help to locate the missing prop. He gave them a photo of the red Terminator arm, and some other details, and sent them on their way.

Penny and Sheldon were going to the "Doctor Who" panel, but the others were going to a "Twilight" panel. Penny quirked an eyebrow at Leonard, remembering his disdain for the movies. He wouldn't meet her eyes.

Sheldon and Penny headed for their panel. They got about halfway there when Penny declared that she needed to use the ladies room. Sheldon went in to save them seats. As he sat waiting for Penny, a red-haired woman, dressed quite accurately as Donna Noble, sat down next to him, to his consternation. "Hello, I like your costume, did you make it? I'm in costume, too. I'm Donna Noble from 'Doctor Who', although if you're at this panel, you probably already know that. Are you saving that seat for someone? Your girlfriend, maybe? Tall handsome guy like you, you probably have a different girlfriend for every convention." As the woman prattled on, never stopping to give Sheldon a chance to reply, or apparently to take a breath, Sheldon looked frantically for Penny. Suddenly, like a Guardian Angel (if he believed in such things, which he didn't), Penny appeared.

"Making friends, Sweetie?" Penny asked, her voice neutral, although, Sheldon, after several years acquaintance with her, could detect amusement. He shot her a desperate look. The woman was still talking, although she appeared to include Penny in the one-sided conversation. Penny cut across her words. "Hi, I'm Penny, and this is Sheldon."

"Oh. Hello," she appeared startled. "I'm Yolanda." She shook Penny's hand, and offered to shake Sheldon's. He sent another pleading to look to Penny.

"He's got germ issues."

"Oh." Yolanda said again. She took a rubber glove out of her bag, put it on, and once more offered her hand to a slightly bemused Sheldon. He shook it, and watched her remove the glove, and place it in a Ziploc baggie, which she returned to her bag.

Penny looked at Sheldon, "Sweetie, why don't you trade me seats?"

He rose with alacrity and took the seat he had been saving for her. The woman, Yolanda, didn't seem at all put out at the switch, in fact she gave Penny a pleased smile and started talking again, about how much she like Doctor Who, and so on, until the panel participants took the stage. Then Penny very firmly told her that it was rude to talk during the panels. Yolanda shut up instantly. Several of the audience surrounding them shot Penny grateful looks. Yolanda stayed quiet for the entire panel, and afterwards trailed hesitantly behind Penny and Sheldon, as they vacated the room.

Penny took in her lonely and forlorn carriage. Before she could speak, Sheldon grabbed her bicep. "Please, no, Penny."

"Aw, Sheldon, she's just lonely." She looked at him with big eyes.

"I'm quite certain that there is a good reason for it." He said, harshly.

"Sheldon!" She admonished. "That's surprisingly uncharitable of you."

His eyes wouldn't meet hers. Finally, he sighed in resignation. He would have better luck proving Loop-Theory (which was absolute hokum), than diverting Penny from her soft-heartedness. And truthfully, he didn't want to. It was part of what made her so frighteningly endearing.

"Aw, thanks, Honey." She patted his arm. "Yolanda? We're going to get BSG autographs. Are you headed that way?"

While a part of Sheldon was amused and pleased that Penny had correctly used the fan acronym (he'd wager that neither Bernadette nor Priya could do so), another part was disheartened by the way Yolanda perked up and latched onto Penny. It was like Wolowitz and Koothrappali all over again. They'd never be rid of her.

He murmured in Penny's ear. "I fear that she has imprinted on you like a newly hatched duckling."

"Be nice, Sweetie."

"That was nice," he said quieter still, his breath warm against her ear. She gave a huff of laughter. Sheldon took Penny's hand, keeping her between himself and Yolanda, and they all walked up to the room where autographs were being signed.

They had a long wait in line, enlivened by Yolanda's cheerful monologue. Penny listened with one ear, and listened to Sheldon with the other. Finally, Penny held her hand up at Sheldon and turned to fully face Yolanda. "You're a medical examiner? Like on TV?"

"Well, not nearly that glamorous, but essentially, yes." Her hazel eyes held Penny's. This was usually where the few people who made it this far into a friendship with Yolanda bailed. But she wasn't ashamed of what she did. She felt like she was useful.

"Sheldon, Yolanda is an ME; in did you say Arcadia, Yolanda?" Yolanda nodded, a little surprised that Penny actually seemed kind of pleased. "How cool is that? A Doctor, Sheldon." There was a teasing glint in Penny's eyes as she looked from Yolanda to Sheldon. Sheldon looked at Penny, then appraisingly at Yolanda.

"Our landing party does need a Medical Doctor," he finally allowed with a nod.

"Landing party?" Yolanda asked.

"Sheldon is, of course, Spock, Leonard, who you'll meet later, is Kirk, and Raj and Howard are… what Sheldon, Red Shirts?"

He gave a breathy laugh, as his eyes warmed. "And Penny is, of course, Nurse Chapel." Sheldon said.

Yolanda blinked at them, processing what they were saying, and a slow smile lit her face. "Okay. Ooh, does that mean I get to examine live people?" She asked excitedly. Sheldon's eyes lit. Penny felt quite smug and vindicated in her befriending of Yolanda.

The Klingon watched from distance as the pretty blonde and tall skinny guy talked to the red-head. He had scoured the convention and only found two sets of Nurse Chapel/Spocks. And the other one would in no way qualify as a pretty blonde, although the other guy was just as skinny as this one. He would have to follow them, and see if they had obtained the goods yet. If not, then he would intervene at the appropriate time. If they had, they he'd have to search their room for it.

Once Sheldon had they autographs that he wanted, they went to meet the others for lunch, unaware of the large form shadowing them.

Leonard looked at the red-head that Penny and Sheldon brought to lunch. "Yolanda," Penny started, pointing to each as she named them. "This is Leonard, his girlfriend Priya, Priya's brother Raj, Raj's best friend Howard, and Howard's girlfriend Bernadette. Guys, this is Yolanda. We met her at the Doctor Who panel." Everyone greeted her except for Raj. "Raj has selective mutism, he doesn't talk to women. Hey, Priya?" Priya raised her eyebrows at Penny. "Does Raj talk to you?"

"Yes, he has no trouble talking to myself, our mother, or our grandmother."

"Huh," said Penny. "Anyway, don't be put off." An evil glint lit her eyes. "In fact, Raj would probably love to hear about your work. He's an awesome listener."

Yolanda smiled brightly at him. Raj smiled shyly at her.

"Where to for lunch today, Sheldon?" Penny asked.

"Panda Palace."

"I do not wish to eat at Panda Palace," Priya protested.

"But it's Friday, which is Panda Palace day at Comic*Con." He replied in a reasonable tone. "We're having Panda Palace."

"I am sorry, Sheldon, but I do not understand why you get to choose where we have lunch." Priya said with some irritation. She was not in the mood for oriental food.

The others just looked at her. "Leonard." Sheldon said a note of warning in his voice.

"Priya," Leonard said in a slightly whining tone. "We knuckle under. It's just easier."

"I do not knuckle under." Priya said firmly. Penny nodded with a grin.

"Leonard," Sheldon said more firmly.

"Priya, trust me, it's just the way it is, and it's easier."

"Sheldon is irritating and arrogant. I do not understand why you put up with him at all." Priya said, stung by Leonard's apparent defection.

Sheldon's expression was hurt for a second, before it went blank. The grin was wiped completely off of Penny's face. "Put up with him?" Penny responded, her voice going high. "He's our friend, Priya. We don't put up with him, we like him. Right, guys?" She looked at the other guys for back up, and was surprisingly disappointed to find none. Priya quirked a smug eyebrow at Penny. Penny narrowed her eyes at the guys, as Bernadette and Yolanda watched in interest. "After all he's done for you guys? Really? Raj, you'd have been freakin' deported if Sheldon hadn't made up a job for you." Raj's smile fell from his face at that barb hit home. "And Leonard, you would have been detained by Homeland Security for that Joyce Kim crap if Sheldon hadn't saved your ass." Leonard's defiant gaze dropped. "And Howard…."

"Yeah, Penny," Howard interrupted. "Tell me what great favor he did for me, other than screwing up my security clearance with the FBI?"

"You mean where he told them the truth, which you had to know he would when you gave him as a reference? Or the part where he felt so badly about it that he tried to apologize and make amends. Which, let's be honest, is a whole helluva' lot more than any of you did for that crap you guys pulled on him in the freakin' arctic." Penny was furious, words tumbling out.

"What crap in the arctic?" Yolanda asked in interest, as the guys all looked guilty and ashamed. Except Sheldon, who was looking at Penny with the same expression he had on his face when she'd explained about his Spot to Bernadette.

"They screwed up his test results, and humiliated him in front of his so-called peers," Penny said "so-called peers" in the same sneering tone that Sheldon would have used. Leonard's head, which had been hanging in shame, snapped up. Penny was about to continue when Sheldon spoke.

"Penny, please let us not rehash it." His expression was still, but she knew that conflict distressed him, and he could start twitching at any time.

"Okay, Sweetie." Her voice gentled immediately.

Priya still didn't quite understand the point that Penny was making, although she and Leonard would be having a long talk about the Arctic later. "Perhaps she should be democratic and vote?" Priya finally suggested, thinking that she would easily win. "All those who wish to knuckle under?" Penny's eyes narrowed at Priya's choice of words.

"How about all in favor of going to the Panda Palace?" Penny rephrased it.

One by one, everyone except Priya put their hand up. She shot Leonard a betrayed look. Penny continued. "Or, we could all just eat where we want and meet up later for the 'Galactica' panel." She offered, her tone more conciliatory, her anger down to a simmer.

"That sounds like an excellent compromise, Penny," Sheldon said, glad that the uncomfortable scene appeared to be over.

As Priya and Leonard left, Penny turned a watchful eye on Sheldon. "You okay, Honey?" She asked very quietly.

A nod was his only reply, although he did place his hand in the center of her back to lead her to the Panda Palace. Raj stared between the direction Priya and Leonard had gone, and the direction Penny and Sheldon were headed, with Yolanda on their heels. He offered a shrug to Howard, and trailed behind Penny and Sheldon.

Howard gaped, and then sighed. "What are you in the mood for, Bernadette?" He asked her.

"I would kind of like the Panda Palace, snookums, if that's okay with you?"

He nodded. "Hey, Raj, wait up." He called as he took Bernadette's hand and hurried after them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Still Friday

Lunch was a lot of fun; Yolanda was a jabber mouth, but an entertaining one. Sheldon would not have thought that there would be entertaining stories from a Medical Examiner. But, even he had to admit, if only to himself, that the story of the man whose wife, mistress and girlfriend all showed up to identify him, at the same time, of course, was mildly amusing.

After lunch, they were all supposed to attend a panel together, on "Firefly" and thus headed that way. Waiting outside were Leonard and Priya. Priya looked unhappy, and Leonard looked bored.

Sheldon let Penny precede him into the room, and they settled into their seats. Penny opened her mouth to the still chatting Yolanda. Before Penny could speak, Yolanda stopped, and smiled at Penny. Sheldon sat back with a smug little grin. Penny had been correct. Yolanda was an ideal addition to their group. Especially since Penny was able to control her.

The Klingon watched them go into the panel. He had less than an hour to go through their room. He hurried to the elevator and hit 11. Once he was in front of their door, he chanced an oh-so-casual look around, before letting himself into the room.

He carefully went through every drawer, nook and cranny. It wasn't until his time was almost up, that he realized what was missing from the room. There was no feminine apparel anywhere. She must be in another room. Damn. That's what he got for assuming that they were sharing a room. He cast a look around, ascertaining that the room looked the same as it had when he'd entered, and then let himself back out. He'd have to tail them again to see which room was the woman's.

During the panel, Priya and Bernadette had quietly asked a lot of questions about "Firefly". Yolanda had leaned in to hear the answers, as if she too had wanted to ask. He and Penny exchanged a smug look.

After the panel, they were splitting up into groups, as they wanted to see different panels. Penny and Sheldon were headed to the panel on Physics and its role in Sci-Fi, which no one else wanted to attend. Honestly, Penny didn't particularly care for it, but would rather go with Sheldon than with any of the others.

Sheldon had expected questions from Penny during the panel, and had been surprised that she waited until it was over to ask them. They were rather elementary, quite frankly, but showed that she had been paying attention. His feeling of smugness grew.

They found a bench and he tried to explain it to her, without bringing Ancient Greece into it. She was never going to be a physicist, but she was certainly grasping it well for a layman. Laywoman? Layperson, he finally decided.

It was once they were on the move, that Sheldon realized that the large Klingon was following them. His first thought was that it was for the mystery. But another possibility occurred to him. It could be a random guy intent on Penny. According to Leonard that sort of thing use to happen frequently when they'd been dating.

Sheldon was concerned. His concern was due to the man's stealthy approach. Perhaps he was a stalker. Beautiful woman such as Penny attracted them, without any effort. Stalkers could be quite dangerous. However, while he knew that he lacked the strength of most men, Penny more than made up for that. He was quite certain that she would not allow the Klingon to harm him.

Sheldon rested his hand on Penny's shoulder, and she stopped and looked up him, her eyebrows raised in question. He leaned closer, breath brushing against her ear and neck. Before he could begin to explain, he felt her shiver against him. The instincts of a southern gentleman rose up and he cautiously shifted his hand to her opposite shoulder, trying to hold her to share warmth without being overly friendly. She froze, and then as he began to explain the situation, she relaxed against him. He didn't understand why she beamed at him as he explained about beautiful women attracting stalkers, but he continued to talk.

When he told her his plan to split up and see which of them the Klingon followed, and for the other to tail them both, Penny finally got completely over her shock that Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper of all people, had initiated physical contact.

When he stopped talking, they stood still for a moment, and then Penny shifted to brush her hand over his upper chest, catching sight of the Klingon out of her peripheral vision. Leaving her hand on his chest, she leaned against him to whisper in his ear. His hand cautiously rested on her waist. To any watcher, it would look like a couple sharing a private moment. They shared a final look before splitting up, and each going a different way.

The Klingon cursed, before following the woman. Once Sheldon realized this, he doubled back to follow the Klingon following Penny. Penny, having realized that the Klingon was following her, made a concerted effort to lose his large self. She finally went into a ladies restroom, and snuck out the other door. She had about 15 minutes before she had to meet Sheldon at the rendezvous. Seriously, only Sheldon could talk about a rendezvous and make it sound like it belonged in the sentence.

Sheldon had arrived at the rendezvous a few minutes early to scout it out. Satisfied that the Klingon was not around, he waited for Penny, who he was certain would be late.

To his surprise, she wasn't. She came bounding up, and grabbed his forearm. "Guess what?" She asked.

"I guess you decided not to be late."

She shook her head at him. "I thought you'd get worried, what with Stalker-Boy at large. "

"That was very thoughtful, Penny," he said sweetly.

"You're welcome, Honey. But," Penny said excitedly. "I got us a clue for the smuggling mystery thingy."

"Indeed, and what is the clue?"

"The staff has been advised to stay clear of one of the maintenance rooms. And it definitely has to do with the mystery."

"Interesting, and how do you acquire this information?"

She blushed, before admitting, "I flirted with one of the hotel employees."

"Excellent use of your assets, Penny."

Penny stopped short. "What the hell does that mean?" She demanded.

Sheldon continued on, blithely unaware of the danger. "Given your physical attributes and willingness to engage in what is called 'casual sex' you are ideally suited to…." His brain finally registered the anger coming off of Penny in waves.

Her voice, when she finally spoke, sounded more hurt than angry, though. "That's the second time you've called me a slut, Sheldon."

Sheldon was shocked. "I have never called you any such thing," he protested, in vain as Penny ignored him.

"And furthermore (furthermore, Penny? Really?) I have not had sex with 31 men."

"The math…."

"The math is full of crap. I was with one guy in High School, with Kurt for the next four freakin' years, Sheldon, and I do NOT cheat," here she started poking him in the chest for emphasis. "I went 6 whole months, remember, when you got me hooked on 'Age of Conan'? I was with Leonard for almost 10 month. And I don't have sex with every guy I go out with. What does your precious math say about that?"

He could see that he had genuinely hurt her. His large hand covered hers where it was still pushing at his chest. "You would, of course, know. How many would you say then?"

"Maybe 10, 15 tops." Her voice was considerably calmer.

He nodded. "I do not understand your distress, then, at your enforced abstinence during the 'Age of Conan' period." He admitted.

She hesitated, and then answered him more honestly than she would have anyone else. "In those 6 months, I could barely get a guy to buy me a drink, Sheldon. It was…difficult."

"Because your self-worth is based on external validation." It wasn't quite a question.

She sighed. "Yes. And to go 6 months without any 'external validation'…." She trailed off.

"I see." He looked at her long and hard. "While I apologize for hurting your feelings, and apparently insulting you, that's stupid." She gaped at him. "You are kind, more intelligent than you seem to believe, and possess a strong streak of practicality. All of these are long-term attributes. Whereas your physical assets," his eyes ran down her body and back up, "will fade as you age."

Penny was speechless.

Sheldon continued. "Allow me to re-phrase. Excellent use of his baser urges against him, Penny."

Her demeanor softened, and the hand under his patted his chest gently. "Thank you, Honey."

Sheldon became hyper-aware of her hand against him, and slowly moved his hand from hers. "You are welcome, Penny." She let her hand drop from him.

After an awkward minute, he prompted her for more details on the clue.

And so, fifteen minutes later, found the two of them standing in the small room adjacent to the maintenance room in question. They had tried the door and were unsurprised to find it locked. However, Sheldon had noted that the ceiling tiles overlapped from the room next to it, and thought that they might be able to access the maintenance room through its neighboring one.

They both stared up at the ceiling in consternation. It was 7 foot high, and there was no safe way for the two of them to reach it.

Penny finally spoke. "You should lift me up, Sheldon."

"You are aware that I lack upper body strength?" He paused. "Perhaps you should endeavor to lift me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "First, doesn't that eidetic memory of yours tell you that I saw you Trestling with Raj? And you won the wrestling part. Second, a man who has pointed out my less than ladylike traits may not want to risk life and limb depending on me not to drop him on his ass." She raised her eyebrows at him.

He swallowed nervously and felt his cheek redden. Penny always called him on things that the others would have caved to. And while it would irritate him greatly if one of the others did it, such as when Priya had, when Penny did it, he somehow found it admirable. He sighed.

Penny studied his expression. If he'd been any other male she knew, and some strangers, she would have easily been able to manipulate him into doing what she wanted. Those guys were so much easier to deal with than Sheldon was. So why did she prefer his company to theirs? She sighed.

"Perhaps we should find some sort of compromise." Sheldon offered.

Her smile lit up her face. "Maybe I can sneak out and find a chair, and you can stand on it. You're taller, after all."

"And you could hold me steady, to ensure that I do not fall, and injure a limb." He paused. "Or my ass." His lips quirked up at one side, the way it sometimes did when he was being sly.

Penny stifled a giggle. It was funny when Sheldon swore, he did it so seldom, and it was so out of character. Penny slid out the door, and returned a few tense moments later toting a chair.

She allowed Sheldon to position the chair, knowing he would find the optimal placement. Once that was accomplished, Sheldon took a nervous breath and moved to climb onto the chair. "Here," Penny said. "Hold onto me," she proffered her hand. Sheldon clasped it tightly, and stepped onto the chair. He stood, hands braced on the wall in front of him, as Penny stood behind him, with a hand cupping his left leg and her other hand holding onto the waistband of his pants.

He had stiffened in response to her fingers curling into his waistband, but relaxed once the logic became clear to him. He pushed the panel out of his way, and peeked over the thin wall into the maintenance room. He stood still, staring for an awfully long time.

"What do you see, Sheldon?" Penny finally asked.

"I'm not certain what it is, but I do not believe that it is a Terminator arm. It's a large envelope, but not nearly large enough for the arm. How disappointing." He shifted his weight slightly, and Penny took his hint. She stepped back, although she kept her hand on him to steady his descent.

"We should get out of here," she said once he was safely on the ground. She grabbed the chair, wanting to leave no trace of their presence in the room. After a quick look around, they exited.

Since they didn't have long before they had to meet the others for dinner, they decided to head to the lobby to wait. Once the others arrived, they headed to dinner. There was no dissension over the destination. None of them noticed the large Klingon watching from the shadows.

He was getting grumpy, those two had lost him, and while he was pretty sure the woman's room was close to the man's, he still didn't know which it was. And now the two of them were aware that he was tailing them. He was going to have to come up with something. Later. For now, he was just tired. He'd been up for almost three days, and if he didn't get some sleep, he was going to continue to make sloppy mistakes.

Dinner was quieter than usual. Only Yolanda really had anything to say. "I had a great time hanging out with you, today, Raj." She said. Raj blushed. "I wouldn't have gone to that panel on the Cosmos and Science Fiction, but it was really interesting." She turned to Sheldon and Penny and completely changed the subject. "Were you serious about wanting to be examined?"

Sheldon's eyes lit up. "Of course."

Yolanda turned to Penny. "And it's okay to give him a physical?"

Penny felt the heat rise in her cheeks as the meaning behind the question sank in. "I-er don't see why it wouldn't be okay for you to give him a purely professional physical." She narrowed her eyes at Yolanda, whose widened in response.

Sheldon for once, was not completely oblivious to the subtext. He didn't know what it meant, but he was aware that it was there. He looked between the two women curiously. With a shrug, he decided to just allow Penny to handle whatever it was. He was certain that she would look out for his best interests.

The other guys were watching in shock. "Great," Yolanda said. "I haven't had a live patient since my residency. We'll set something up after Comic*Con, if that's okay with you, Sheldon."

"That sounds acceptable. How will you contact me?"

"Oh, I'll text Penny. "

He nodded his head in acceptance. The two women shared a look. "So, Yolanda," Penny started. "What was the panel on the Cosmos and Science Fiction about?"

That was enough. Yolanda spent the rest of dinner talking about the panel, with Raj contributing via Howard.

After dinner they made a round of the dealer room before heading up to their respective rooms.

Sheldon allowed Penny to enter his room first, and then followed her in. He sat his bag down, as she moved to the adjoining door. "See you in a few, Sweetie."

He nodded in response. He stood, standing next to the dresser where he had placed his bag, and looked suspiciously around the room. He was quite certain that someone had been in his room.

When Penny returned a few minutes later, having changed into something comfy for movie-viewing, she found him still rooted in the same spot. "Sheldon? What's wrong, Sweetie?"

"Someone has been in my room, Penny."

She cast a look around, trying to see whatever disturbance he saw. "Are you sure?" She knew he didn't allow housekeeping in, setting the Do Not Disturb sign on the door was one of the first things he had done upon entering the room the first time.

"Yes. Someone has been in my room. Penny, people can't be in my room."

She grinned at him, trying to lighten the mood a little. "I'm in your room."

He waved a dismissive hand. "You're not 'people', you're Penny.

Her green eyes were warm with affection as she looked around the room again, failing to see whatever he saw. But, one thing about Sheldon; he was certainly OCD enough to know if anything was even a millimeter out of place. So, instead of dismissing his concern, she did the best that she could for him. "Do you want to watch the movie in my room? I don't think anyone's been there."

"That is kind of you, Penny. But it only solves the most immediate problem. Where am I to sleep tonight? I can't possibly sleep in a room that has been defiled. Nor is there likely to be another hotel open in San Diego during Comic*Con."

She knew what he wanted her to say, but she was hesitant. She wasn't sure what was going on with her and Sheldon, but she knew that whatever it was would need to be taken slowly. "I'm not sleeping on the floor of my own room, Sheldon." She said sternly, making her position perfectly clear. He looked startled. Then he realized: she only had one bed in her room, as did he. He debated with himself. On one hand, it would be an ideal opportunity to truly test his ever-increasing boundaries with Penny. On the other hand, he was hesitant about sharing a bed with her. Aside from her frankly appalling snoring, he was aware via Leonard, that Penny like to snuggle as she slept. He was certain that such a thing would only lead to disaster.

Still, if he was seriously contemplating altering their friendship paradigm, then he would need to do this. If he couldn't sleep with her, then he was quite certain that other activities, which she was certain to insist upon, were out of the question. It was better for him to find out now before he made Penny aware of the situation.

All of this thought took him less than 10 seconds. His voice startled Penny, who had thought that it would take him a lot longer to make a decision. "I accept your terms. Your bed is certainly large enough for us to share without infringing on the others space."

"Wow, I didn't see that coming," Penny said, her voice surprised. She debated for a few long seconds. "Okay, then." She said at last.

"Excellent. If you will excuse me, I will don my pajamas and be over for the movie."

"Okay, I'll grab some ice, and meet you back in my room. I'll leave the door unclicked for you."

"'Unclicked'? Do you listen to yourself?"

"Don't push your luck, Sheldon. I'm sure Raj would let you stay in his room." She threatened.

He shut his mouth with a snap. "I'll be in shortly."

When he tentatively opened the door several minutes later, Penny was putting ice in a couple of glasses. She offered Sheldon one, and gestured for him to choose a seat. He shot her a pleased smile and settled into her rooms' equivalent to his chair.

They watched the classic movie, and when it was time for bed, neither wanted to be the one to mention it. Finally, Sheldon couldn't stay up any longer. "Penny, I would like to retire for the night, if that is acceptable to you?"

"Sure, Sweetie, that's fine."

He moved to the bed and kicked something that she had tucked under the edge of her bed. He leaned down to pick it up. "Why do you have a baseball bat in your room, Penny?" He asked in puzzlement.

"Same reason that I have it at home. I'm a single girl, and it's always better to have some protection." She smirked a little at her play on words.

Sheldon of course, missed it. "Ah, in view of the Klingon stalker and the fact that someone was in my room, you were wise to bring it."

"Yep," she said. "And on that note…," she closed her door that connected to his room, and pushed a chair against it, and the other chair against the door to the hall.

He nodded in approval, before getting into the bed. Penny hesitated, and followed suit. They lay awkwardly for several minutes. "Goodnight, Penny. Thank you for letting me stay here with you."

"You're welcome, Honey. Goodnight."

It took them a surprisingly short amount of time to fall asleep. And it never occurred to either of them that Penny could have slept in Sheldon's room, taking the same precautions with his chairs as she had hers.


	6. Chapter 6

Sheldon woke up and froze. He was not in his room, nor in his usual sleep position. He was on his side, facing Penny. After a few seconds of panic, he remembered the events of the previous evening. He was pleasantly surprised to find his person unmolested. Penny was curled up on her side of the bed, facing him, cuddling a pillow to her. Sheldon smiled slightly.

Penny stirred and Sheldon lay still. Her eyelashes fluttered against her cheek a few times then her eyes opened. She looked startled for a second and then smiled warmly at him. He found himself smiling back at her.

He cleared his throat, and spoke. "Are you getting up immediately?"

"No, not for a couple of minutes."

He nodded and slid cautiously out of bed, careful to keep his lower half obscured. He pulled on his robe and made his way to her bathroom.

When he returned to the bedroom, Penny was standing in the middle of the room, stretching. Her tank top had risen, showing a small expanse of skin. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Penny, I believe that I should return to my room and shower."

"Okay, Honey. Do you want me to go over with you to check it out?" She offered gently.

His eyes lit as he answered eagerly. "Yes, please, Penny."

More to humor him than anything else, she grabbed her bat. Sheldon was reaching for the knob to the adjoining door when the handle began to turn. She grabbed Sheldon by the back of his robe and pulled him behind her as she raised her bat. The door slowly opened and a head edged into the room. CRACK! She brought the bat down on it. "Leonard!" She exclaimed as she recognized the figure on the floor. She let the bat fall from her hand and dropped to her knees next to his prone form. "Sheldon, grab some ice."

When Sheldon failed to move, she turned angry eyes to him. His hand was at his waist, with his index finger extended. She followed his pointing finger to the Klingon standing in the doorway holding a gun. The barrel of the gun was pointed at the floor.

She narrowed her eyes at the Klingon. "Sheldon, grab some damn ice."

Sheldon's instincts of self-preservation told him to obey Penny and worry about the big guy with the gun later. He grabbed what was left of the ice from the previous evening and wrapped it in a washcloth. Penny took it from him, still ignoring the Klingon. She applied it to Leonard's head, and watched him anxiously.

His eyes slowly opened, and he looked up at Penny. "What's going on?" He asked, confused.

"You and this guy," she pointed to the Klingon, "decided to break into Sheldon's room and then mine. I whacked you." She paused. "Sorry."

Leonard sat up, and looked up the Klingon. "I told you it was a bad idea to wake her up," he informed him.

"You did," the Klingon responded, a smile quirking his lips. He put his weapon away, and offered Leonard a hand up. The smile fell from his face as he turned to Penny and Sheldon, who were standing together. "I'm Detective Tim McGuffin, San Diego PD." He pulled an ID from somewhere on his person and displayed it to them.

"Okay, you're a cop," Penny said. "What are you doing in my room? Do you have… wait, were you in Sheldon's room yesterday?"

"Yes, I was. Sorry about that…and no, I don't have a warrant, but I do have probable cause. Can we sit, and I'll explain everything?"

"Explanations would be good." She said. She turned to Sheldon. "You okay, Honey?"

"I believe so, Penny. I knew someone had been in my room." He said, vindicated.

"You sure did," she said with a grin. "You okay, Leonard?"

"Yeah, I think so. You sure pack a wallop, Penny."

"Thanks. You're just lucky we were standing so close, it could have been much worse." She pulled the chair from its place wedged against the front door. She gestured for Leonard to sit. Detective McGuffin took the other chair. Penny and Sheldon exchanged a look and sat on the bed. "Okay, explain." Penny prompted.

"I'm going to give you a little more information that you really need, but it's important for you to have the background…so bear with me." They nodded. "We have an undercover cop in place in a kind of a gang."

Penny interrupted. "A gang of vampires?"

McGuffin gave her an approving smile. "Very good, yes. And he got wind of a dirty cop, who's helping those vampires move drugs. He was instructed to hand over the cop's information to a cop from a different precinct. Namely me. But since he didn't know the cop, he didn't realize that it wasn't you. He only knew that his contact would be here, in costume. The necklace that you bought was the signal."

"Oh," said Penny. "And the paper he gave me was the bad cop's info?"

"Oh, he did give it to you. Good." He cleared his throat. "May I have it?"

Penny rose, but Sheldon stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "And just how do we know that you are not the 'dirty cop'?" He did the air quotes. "There is no name on the paper, just a series of numbers. And you broke into my room, and Penny's without a warrant, and kidnapped Leonard to gain access. These are not the actions of a good cop."

McGuffin stared appraisingly at Sheldon. "I wasn't sure if you guys were innocent by-standers or some kind of accessories. But, you're right, if you file a complaint I will definitely be in trouble for that. But I didn't kidnap Dr. Hofstadter. I'm actually on the same floor as he is, and saw him step out for ice, and recognized him as a friend of yours. I asked him to help me find your room, miss, which he couldn't, so we came back to yours, Dr. Cooper."

Penny and Sheldon exchanged a long look. Then Penny stood and went to her dresser. "Here," she said as she handed over the paper. "This is all he gave me."

Detective McGuffin gave the paper a cursory glance, and stood. "I don't think I need to tell you keep this to yourselves, for your own safety."

Penny stood there staring hard at the detective. "Sheldon, we're overlooking something, Honey. What is it?"

Sheldon gave her a curious look, and then saw that she was serious. He gave the matter his considerable attention. "Are you perhaps referring to the maintenance room?"

"Yes! That's it." Sheldon preened, as Penny smiled approvingly at him. She turned to the detective. "One of the employees told me about a maintenance room that they had been told was off-limits, and that it was about the Mystery."

McGuffin grinned. "And I'm guessing you two checked it out?"

"Yep," Penny replied, popping the "p". "And Sheldon only saw an envelope."

Interest lit McGuffin's eyes. "You don't say? And where is the maintenance room?"

Penny told him how to find it, and McGuffin looked back and forth between Penny and Sheldon. "Anything else?" He asked.

Penny bit her lip, and shot Sheldon a weird look. "The cop who's doing the Mystery…."

"I don't like him," Sheldon finished.

"That would be an awfully big coincidence, Penny." Leonard demurred.

"There's no such thing as coincidence, Leonard." She replied. She narrowed her eyes at Sheldon who had opened his mouth to add something. He subsided. He would feel justified in his instant dislike of Detective Rogers should he prove to be the 'bad cop'. Otherwise, it was only his ogling of Penny that made Sheldon dislike him. And that was something that Sheldon was hoping to avoid. He had accepted that he had become attached to Penny in ways that went beyond friendship. But to sink to jealousy would be a bit much.

"Still," Leonard continued. "To think that this guy's a dirty cop based on, of all things, Sheldon's instincts?"

"Instinct is usually your subconscious processing subliminal clues, Leonard." Penny said. Leonard and Sheldon both gaped at her. "What?" Sheldon gave her a tiny smile in reply.

Leonard, however, blurted out "where would you have learned that, Penny?" He winced as he realized the emphasis he had put on "you" was less than complimentary.

Penny's eyes narrowed and her eyes swung back to her bat. Leonard's hands went up in surrender. "If you must know, it's something that Amy told me. She said that our brains process a lot more information than we realize. If that's okay with you?"

"Leonard, before you reply, allow me to remind you that Penny has only just woken up and has not had her customary cup of coffee yet. Perhaps you would be wise to let the matter drop." Sheldon murmured. "Especially since she is correct."

McGuffin contributed too. "Every cop knows not to ignore a hunch. Nice to know there's scientific reasons for it." He grinned. "I appreciate all of your help." He said as he stood. "I'll check out this maintenance room. If you run into any trouble, or think of something else and can't find me, there are a group of Klingons with this same emblem." He gestured to a patch on his sash. "The House of Korgoth; my frat brothers. I trust them implicitly, and they will do their best to help you."

"Thanks." Penny replied. As McGuffin headed for her door, she spoke again. "You should go out through Sheldon's room. Just in case."

He gave her another approving nod. "You're right. Good thinking." Suiting action to words, the large detective went through Sheldon's room to exit. Penny excused herself to go to the restroom.

Leonard sat, holding the melting ice to his head, staring at Sheldon. "Did you sleep with Penny, Sheldon?" He finally asked, dreading the answer.

"I'm uncertain how that would be any of your concern, in either case." Sheldon replied.

"The 'Guy Code', Sheldon."

"Please elaborate."

"You don't date or sleep with a buddy's ex."

Sheldon's eyes grew surprisingly cold. "But a sister is, I believe the expression is, 'fair game'?" Leonard fidgeted under Sheldon's look. "And as I recall, Dr. Stephanie was Howard's date the night you met her."

"It's not the same thing." Leonard protested.

"Oh?"

Leonard clamped his lips shut. "Howard wasn't emotionally invested in Stephanie. He just wanted to get laid." He finally burst out.

"And your claim is that you are emotionally invested in Penny. That your relationship was about more than coitus? And as a result of this alleged investment, you are entitled to ask this question?"

"Well, yeah, Sheldon."

"Such as?"

Leonard stared at him slack-jawed. "What?"

"What were your shared interests besides coitus?"

"What are your shared interests?" Leonard returned triumphantly.

"No, Leonard. We are currently debating your right to ask questions. Please answer."

"Well, we…." He trailed off as he drew a blank. He literally could not think of one thing that he and Penny had enjoyed doing together that didn't involve sex.

Sheldon watched him expectantly, but when no answer was forthcoming, spoke. "I see. You do not have any right to ask the question, nor any claim upon who Penny chooses to become involved with, Leonard."

Leonard stared at him in consternation. "I am kinda' surprised that you're the one she's getting involved with." He replied leadingly.

"I have not said that we are, in fact, involved. Merely that Penny's choices are none of your business. My choices are as well." There was a time when Sheldon would have discussed the growing relationship with Leonard. He wasn't certain that he was pursuing it correctly. However, having borne witness to Leonard's rather childish attempts to maintain a relationship with Penny, Sheldon no longer felt that Leonard's knowledge of such matters was in any way superior to his own. "You should return to your room, Leonard. Priya will begin to wonder where you are."

"Right." Leonard stood, and handed Sheldon the washcloth. "Thanks for the ice."

"You are welcome. Please go out through my room, as well."

"Okay." And he left.

"Well that was educational," Penny said from the bathroom door, her voice strained.

Sheldon swung around to face her, his blue eyes wide. "Are you angry?"

"No, disappointed in Leonard, a little, but not angry, and definitely not with you, Honey." She paused. "You know he's gonna' be a little pissy with you, don't you? You could have told him what happened."

"My upbringing has led me to believe that it is inappropriate to discuss such things with anyone. Thus, as he would not have believed any protestations of innocence, the best course of action seemed to be to remind him that it was not his business." Speaking of courses of action; Leonard's knowledge of relationships was poor. Penny's, however, was not. He started formulating his question in his mind.

"Okay, Sheldon." She stopped. Sheldon was giving her an appraising look that was making her a bit nervous. "Sheldon?"

"Penny. May I ask you a hypothetical question?"

"Sure." She watched him consider his words with interest.

"If a man, who had never considered relationships to be important, or even desirable, decided to pursue one… what would be the best method to do so? After he had, of course, extensively tested the hypothesis." At her blank look, he explained. "The hypothetical male would have spent as much time as possible with the object of his affections, to determine viability, compatibility and interest. At this point what he would need to do would be to determine reciprocal interest. And to woo her."

Penny literally stopped breathing for a few seconds. It all slotted into place. He'd been testing to see if he wanted to be in a relationship with her, and now he was asking her how to test if she wanted to be in one with him. And asking her how to do it. This was huge. Sheldon was an all or nothing person. This would not be some fling, and going their separate ways amicably after it had run its course. She needed to think about it. Really think, not just toy with the idea of tackling his oblivious self and mussing him up.

"I...I…," she trailed off. "I think that I'm going to go work out, instead of breakfast, and think about it. I'll let you know later, if…if that's okay?"

"Of course. May I suggest that you do not wear your skimpy shorts and tank top through the hotel? There are many in attendance that make Wolowitz seem quite benign by comparison."

"Way ahead of you, Sweetie. I brought a track suit."

"Excellent forethought, Penny."

"Thank you. Do you still want me to walk you to your room?"

"If you wouldn't mind?"

She once more grabbed up her bat, and gestured for him to lead the way. Once in his room, he took a look around, and gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you, Penny. I will lock all of the locks, and place the chairs as you did, while I shower. Shall we meet in the lobby?"

"Sounds good, about 90 minutes?"

"Indeed."

Penny went into her room, and changed into her bright yellow track suit, with the funky black stripes. She had bought it because it was on sale, because she'd only ever wear it to work out. She put her hair into a ponytail, grabbed her key, and left.

As she did her workout, Penny gave the matter of a relationship with Sheldon the serious consideration that it was due. On one hand, he was complicated. Being with him would be a never ending struggle to understand him. And he was clueless when it came to simple interaction, let alone the more complex interactions of a relationship. On the other hand, if she were being honest with herself, he was already pretty entwined in her life. She knew that if she indicated to him that his interest in her was not reciprocated, he would let the matter drop and never bring it up again. They would continue as they had been. Suddenly she knew that she didn't want that. As challenging as a relationship with Sheldon would be, the rewards would be so much greater. But, on the first hand, she was so sexually advanced, and he hadn't even moved up to training wheels. It would be akin to child molestation to get involved with him. With an unhappy slump to her shoulders, she got off the machine and toweled off.

She headed through the lobby towards the elevator, and stopped cold. Sheldon was stepping awkwardly off of the elevator followed very closely by Detective Rogers. Penny saw the way the cop had his hand in his jacket pocket, and was sure that was the shape of a gun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The House of Korgoth on loan from the ever-gracious SpaceAnJL.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own iPhone, YouTube, or anything else in the fic that you recognize.

Sheldon had just finished dressing and was heading out to meet the others, when the knock came at his door. Making the assumption that it was Leonard, he braced himself for a confrontation and opened it. He stared blankly at Detective Rogers. "Let me in," Rogers said quietly. It was then that Sheldon noticed the discreetly held handgun Rogers had pointed at him.

He hesitated, and slowly opened the door. Rogers brushed past him. "Where is it?" He demanded, his voice harsh.

"To what are you referring?" Sheldon asked.

"You know damn well what I'm after. I saw you and the blond trying to get into the room where I had it, I know you took it. Now where is it?"

"Neither of us have it, I assure." Sheldon said calmly. While he wanted nothing more than to run away to safety, he was quite certain that Rogers would shoot him. And panicking would do him no good.

"Where's the blond?"

"Working out." Sheldon answered without thinking.

"We'll deal with her later then." Sheldon felt a cold chill grip the base of his spine, and his stiff body grew even stiller. Rogers looked around the room. "If you move, I'll shoot you. And then I'll go find your girlfriend and …well, it won't be pretty. Do you understand?"

Sheldon nodded, uncertain of his voice. He'd rather see Penny resume her doomed relationship with Leonard than allow this man near her. He stood as still as a statue while the ersatz detective searched his room, presumably for the envelope.

When he had satisfied himself that the envelope wasn't there, Rogers turned once more to Sheldon. "Where is it?"

"I have told you, I do not have it."

"Then we go find the blond."

Sheldon froze, for all of his intelligence, he could not think of anything to do but follow Rogers' orders. He awkwardly moved to the door when Rogers gestured with the gun.

Howard was grumpy. They'd been waiting for Penny and Sheldon to come to breakfast, but they were late. While Penny was unpredictable at best, Sheldon was never late, and Penny was prompt when she was with Sheldon. When they realized how late Penny and Sheldon were, Leonard had looked a little concerned and said that someone should go and check on them, but that he would not be the one to do it. Howard knew there was an interesting tale to explain that. A quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock later, and Howard was on his way to fetch Penny and Sheldon.

He stopped short at the sight before him. Sheldon was coming out of his room, hands up in the air like in a cop movie, and that detective from the Mystery was holding a pistol on him. He heard the cop say "let's go find the blond, and I'll deal with you together." Howard did the only thing he could think of. He rushed to the elevator to round up the guys. He might want to kill Sheldon sometimes, but nobody else was going to do it!

He found the guys, and as quickly as possible, told them what he'd seen. Now Leonard looked really worried. They he started looking around for someone. "You guys stall them, for as long as you can. I'm going to get help." And with that he took off.

The others stared blankly at each other. When the elevator door opened, and Sheldon stepped out, Yolanda tossed her red hair back and strode towards Sheldon and Rogers. She stopped right in Sheldon's path, leaving him no alternative but to halt. Then she started talking, "we were starting to think that you weren't coming to breakfast, and you're never late, so we were worried, but here you are, and who's your friend?" She didn't give him a chance to reply before she was off again. Rogers gaped at her in shock as she spoke, until finally he'd had enough. He was a dead man unless he recovered that envelope anyway. Sheldon felt him tense and then shift, so he put his hand to Yolanda's shoulder and shoved her firmly out of the way.

As Sheldon's body was angled forward, a figure in yellow tackled Rogers, knocking him to the ground and sending the gun flying. A Klingon picked up the gun, as another helped Yolanda to her feet. A third went to remove Penny from her position atop Rogers, where she was punching him in the head, shoulders and upper chest. Rogers covered his head, as Penny swung at the Klingon who tried to move her. Sheldon sidled over and grabbed Penny by the wrists. "Penny, you must stop," he said firmly. He helped her stand, and she turned to him and the fierce expression on her face melted away as she burrowed her face in his chest. He stood with his arms awkwardly held out and then slowly folded them stiffly around her shaking form. "There, there, Sheldon's here." He said in a soothing voice, with a slight Texas twang.

Once Penny was away from Rogers, the Klingons from the House of Korgoth swarmed him; they rolled him onto his stomach and secured his hands behind his back with somebody's uniform sash.

Sheldon's eyes sought Leonard. He found him standing on the outskirts of the brouhaha, where he'd come to a halt after fetching the Klingons. Sheldon nodded his appreciation to Leonard, who then started towards them.

Sudden quiet fell as Detective McGuffin came on the scene. One of the Klingons quickly told him what they knew of the incident. McGuffin approached Sheldon and Penny. "You two okay?" He asked them. Penny pulled reluctantly away from Sheldon.

"I am," Penny answered and then turned worried green eyes on Sheldon. "Are you okay, Honey?"

"I am fine, Penny. He merely threatened harm; he never actually carried out any threats."

Her hand twined with his. "Thank goodness. I was so scared when I saw you guys get off the elevator. Yolanda was pretty awesome, wasn't she?"

Sheldon nodded seriously. "Indeed she was."

"Ed," McGuffin said to one of the Klingons, "try and keep these folks back, will ya'?" He turned to Penny and Sheldon. "So what happened, Dr. Cooper?" He asked in an official tone of voice.

Holding tightly to Penny's hand, Sheldon relayed the events leading up to Penny's tackle. When he got to that part, McGuffin turned frankly admiring eyes on Penny. Yolanda, Howard and Leonard chimed in with their pieces of the puzzle. Raj, Bernadette and Priya all stood off to the side, watching in bemusement.

"Well," McGuffin said when all the blanks had been filled in. "I think you're all crazy, but you did a helluva job. Thank you."

"Speaking only for myself, I'm not crazy; my mother had me tested." Sheldon said seriously.

McGuffin started to say something, shook his head and then turned to Penny.

"You're welcome," Penny said with a smile.

"Right. " He cleared his throat. "I'll need official statements from all of you, of course, and the detectives from his precinct will be down shortly, and they'll want to question you, too. "

Penny nodded, and then asked, "Do I have time for a shower?"

"Oh, yeah, you've got time. I'll get the basics form these gentlemen."

"Thanks, I'll be back down shortly." She reluctantly released Sheldon's hand and headed for the elevator. Everyone in the lobby watched her go. As soon as the elevator doors closed, the quiet murmur of voices rose to a cacophony. A man holding an iPhone and dressed as Professor Snape from "Harry Potter" insinuated himself into to the loose circle that the Klingons had formed around the scene.

"What's her name?" He asked Leonard, who happened to be the closest to him.

"Penny," Leonard replied tiredly.

"Penny what?" The guys pressed.

Leonard stared blankly at him. "Uh…."

After a pause, Sheldon spoke. "Olson," he supplied to the guy. The look he turned on Leonard was disappointment tinged with disgust. "Really, Leonard? After all of her mail that you stole, and nearly ten months of coitus, I would have thought that you could have been bothered to learn her last name." Sheldon's voice was harsh, but pitched low, intended only for Leonard's ears.

"I did…do…," Leonard protested. "I just…I'm a little overwhelmed, Sheldon. I promise you I knew it was Olson." Leonard wasn't sure quite why he felt that he needed to defend himself to Sheldon. But something in Sheldon's expression demanded it.

Sheldon's stern expression relaxed and he nodded his acceptance.

"And what's your name, Spock?" The guy asked.

"I am Dr. Sheldon Cooper." Sheldon intoned.

"Great, thanks." With that the guy wandered off. Within a minute, the scene of Penny's flying tackle and smack-down of Rogers had been uploaded to YouTube. The description read: "Beautiful Bride goes 'Kill Bill' to save her man. Penny Olson rescues her boyfriend, Dr. Sheldon Cooper from kidnapping at Comic*Con."

Penny stood under the hot spray for a good long while, shaking. She had been so scared when she'd seen that gun pointed at Sheldon. She had known that she was fond of him, and had even begun to realize that she could easily fall head over heels for the Whackadoodle, but until that moment, she hadn't known how far gone she already was. She needed to back off, before she did any damage. It was for the best.

When she returned to the lobby, the police had put up the crime scene tape, and she saw the guys being questioned. When she got to Sheldon's side, she found that he had procured her a cup of coffee. That was the word that he used; procured. She sipped it gratefully. The police asked her question after question, which she answered to the best of her ability. Sheldon stood by her side, and took her hand.

She knew she should have pulled away, tried to distance herself, but she just couldn't deny either of them the comfort of that connection.

At some point they were given lunch, and then answered more questions. Actually, she thought that they were asking the same questions, over and over, just in different ways, trying to find discrepancies.

The day was a blur for Penny. She found out from Ed the Klingon that someone had solved the Mystery, and their prize had been hotel accommodations for Comic*Con next year.

As it turned out, the hotel, out of gratitude, had offered the same to Penny and Sheldon. Sheldon had a pleased smile when he relayed this to Penny.

For the first time, she heard about Howard's and Leonard's parts in all of it. She shot them both a grateful smile. Howard actually blushed, which Penny thought was so out of character that she raised her eyebrows at Bernadette, who was fussing over Howard. Bernadette merely smiled at her.

Sometime during the day, Penny discovered that there were several videos of her takedown on YouTube. And someone had put her name on one. She wondered how they'd gotten her name, and Sheldon's.

But she had bigger concerns right that moment. Like how was she supposed to break up with Sheldon, when they weren't together in any way except hypothetically?

Once the very long day was over, and Penny and Sheldon were able to return to their rooms, she realized that that was her answer.

"Sheldon, about your …hypothetical question…." Penny started. Sheldon's eyes lit with interest. "She might not …. She might think you're better off as friends."

"Oh," Sheldon said quietly. He had known that it was possible that Penny did not return his amorous feelings. Based on her reactions to his testing, he had expected a more positive response. He was unexpectedly disappointed. "I thought that she reciprocated my feelings. I hope that I have not distressed her?" He asked softly.

"No, Sheldon, I'm sure you haven't" This roundabout talking was starting to wear on Penny. But she gamely pushed on. "She probably just thinks that you're not compatible. That you're in different places."

"In what way?"

"You know, experience-wise."

"So she…let's dispense with the pretense, Penny. It isn't that you are not attracted to me; it's that you feel that our differing experience levels would cause difficulties. Is that the gist of it?'

"Basically." She said. "It would be worse than with… Leonard, Sweetie." She hated to bring Leonard's name into this, but she had to make him see. She had her eyes on the ground and didn't see his triumphant smirk.

"You are mistaken, Penny. You have forgotten one very important fact. I am much smarter than Leonard is, and as such have two things in my favor which he did not."

Her eyes were smiling as she met his; she just couldn't help herself. Such certainty was attractive.

"And what are those things, Sheldon?"

"First, I have no bad habits for you to break, romantically nor sexually. You would find me eminently trainable." Penny's breath caught at his words.

"A-and the second thing?" She asked finally.

"I already know something about you that Leonard never learned."

"Oh? And what's that?"

He smiled his cat-smile at her. "How much you like this." He said as he stalked towards her with great purpose. She gave ground until she was pressed against the dresser. Sheldon let his hands settle on the dresser, on either side of her. He looked down at her upturned face, his eyes dark.

Her heart was hammering in her chest as he leaned down and kissed her. It was not a particularly skilled kiss, but it was heartfelt, and Penny succumbed without another thought. She wrapped her arms around his narrow waist, and kissed him back. Sheldon's arms went around her, awkwardly at first, and then with increasing confidence as she melted against him.

Of course, Sheldon had been right on both counts. He followed her silent instructions exactly, improving his skill at kissing with every passing second, and she had liked it when he stalked over to her.

It was long while later when they spoke again. "We'll take this as slowly as you want, Sheldon. We don't need to rush."

"What about your need for external validation?" He asked seriously, relieved but concerned.

She snorted. "Honey, one of the smartest men on the planet wants to be with me. That's should hold me for a while. "

"Excellent." He kissed her again. "We should get ourselves ready for the movie."

"Right. My room or yours?"

"That Detective Rogers searched my room. It has once again been defiled. Your room, please."

She nodded and then froze. "Are you sleeping here?"

"If you have no objections, I would like to, yes."

"I guess we can do that."

"But we're taking our time, correct?"

"Correct, just sleeping."

And with that Sheldon smiled and excused himself to get ready. Before he returned to her room, he locked all of the locks on his door, and pushed a chair against it. Satisfied that no one could get in that way, he returned to Penny's room.

They both slept quite soundly that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm on the Why does Penny have no Last Name bandwagon (been on it a while).


	8. Chapter 8

When Penny woke up, she knew instantly that something was different. She opened her eyes and saw Sheldon still sleeping, facing her. She had never noticed before that he had freckles on his nose and neck. She knew she was pretty far gone when she decided that they were adorable and she wanted to kiss each one of them.

She sighed and then quietly eased herself out of the bed. She had no idea what had awakened her, especially at…she peered at the clock…7:36 in the morning. She stretched, feeling kinks ease from her shoulders and back.

She wandered across the room to the bathroom; a hot shower would take care of the rest of the stiffness from her adventure yesterday. It wasn't until she had stripped down that she noticed the bruises. She had one on her shoulder; she thought that was probably from when she had hit Rogers with all her momentum. She had them on each of her knees, from pouncing on Rogers, she had no doubt. Both of her wrists also had bruises. That gave her pause. Had Sheldon done that? That thought rocked her. She wasn't into Dom/sub or any of that bondage stuff, but the thought that Sheldon, her Sheldon, had gripped her hard enough bruise was … wow.

Then reality reared its head. Sheldon would be mortified if he saw them and realized that he'd caused bruises on her. The only thing she had that would cover them, aside from her track suit, was the costume that Sheldon had made her. After a quick internal debate, she decided that the uniform would be easier to explain. She took her shower and then wrapped her robe around her to retrieve the uniform.

She glanced over and saw Sheldon watching her from the bed. "Oh, good morning, Sweetie." She said with a smile. "I was just dressing." She nervously pulled the sleeves of her robe down.

"Good morning, Penny. May I…?" He gestured to the bathroom.

"Oh, of course."

He went to her bathroom, while she gathered everything she needed. When he came back out, she moved towards the bathroom. "If you want me to go with you to your room, just give me a couple of minutes to dress, okay?"

"Certainly, Penny." Sheldon settled himself on the bed, and turned on the TV. "Good Lord," he said when he saw that Penny's rescue had made the news. Some enterprising soul had evidently turned over their footage to the local news. They even had Penny's real name, as well as his. They had also made several assumptions regarding their relationship. He was not certain how Penny was going to feel about it. He was quite surprised that they had not been inundated with calls.

When Penny came out of the bathroom, she found Sheldon on her phone. "Yes, I understand. I'll inform her. Thank you." He hung up the phone and turned to Penny. He had an odd expression on his face. He pointed to the television, where the clip was playing for the third time since he'd been watching.

Penny could only gape. "What the f… Sheldon?"

"I have just spoken with the hotel manager. They have been thoughtful enough to hold all of our calls. We each have a stack of messages. Mostly from the local news outlets."

"Oh, God, Sheldon." She sat down on the bed and started laughing. Sheldon thought that it was tinged with hysteria.

"Penny?"

"I came to California to become famous. And what am I famous for? For beating the hell out of a guy who was going to hurt my friend."

"Friend?" Sheldon repeated sharply. He thought they'd settled that last night. Then he shook his head. It would have to be addressed later. "The fact that the incident occurred at Comic*Con, and that you were dressed similarly to the Bride from the "Kill Bill" movies whilst rescuing me has added to the interest."

With a last gasp, Penny got herself under control. "What now, Sheldon?"

"Assuming that you are referring to the situation rather than breakfast and our return home; then we should pick up the messages and see if you have any interest in returning any."

"Yeah, that's what I meant. Although, now that you mention it, I am starved. And I definitely need coffee before dealing with any of that." She said with a gesture at the TV. "Come on; let's get you into your room so you can get dressed." With far more caution than she had used yesterday, Penny moved the chair and with her bat firmly in her grasp, opened the adjoining door. She kept Sheldon behind her as she peeked into his room. "Looks okay," she said quietly, as she walked into the room. Sheldon followed her.

She peered into the bathroom, and checked the small closet to be sure, before pronouncing the room clear. She leaned up to kiss his cheek, and excused herself back to her room. He stood there for a moment, just touching his cheek. Penny would never cease to confound him, which he should find irritating. He feared, however, that it was actually one of the reasons that he was attracted to her.

He was virtually unmoved by beauty, although she possessed that in abundance, and he could honestly say that he was not motivated by a desire to engage in coitus. Slowly becoming interested in it yes, but not motivated by the pursuit of it. He shook his head, and began his ablutions.

He hesitated over what to wear. Normally, on the last day they dressed in their street clothes rather than in costumes. But Penny was in her costume. Feeling a sense of solidarity with her, Sheldon donned his Spock ensemble.

He knock, knock, knocked on the adjoining door, and Penny opened the door for him immediately. "Ready, Sweetie?" She asked.

"Yes, Penny."

As they stepped into the elevator, they felt like the other occupants were staring at them (which, of course, they were). "I may need two cups of coffee, today, Honey," Penny said tiredly as she leaned her head against his arm.

As they exited the elevator the lobby quieted in a ripple from their position outward. Suddenly, someone was clapping, then more joined in. Penny and Sheldon froze, and then Penny took Sheldon's hand and gave a small bow. Holding tightly to Sheldon's hand, her professional smile firmly affixed to her face, they slowly made their way through the clapping crowd to the others.

"'Morning all," Penny said, smile still in place.

"Wow…That was so cool," Yolanda burst out.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you, yesterday, Yolanda. You were amazing," Penny said sincerely.

Yolanda blushed. "I-I was glad to be able to help."

Penny released Sheldon's hand to hug her. "Thank you."

With a happy sigh, Yolanda returned the hug. "You're welcome."

"As Penny is in dire need of her 'cup of Joe', I suggest that we adjourn to breakfast, now." Sheldon said. He offered her his hand. With a grin she took it, intertwining their fingers.

The others followed Sheldon and Penny into the dining room. They stood chatting, waiting for a table large enough for all of them to become available. A few people stopped on their way out of the dining room to shake Penny's hand.

"As an actress," Priya said seriously, "I imagine that you must be used to the attention."

"I wish," Penny said with a little grin at Priya. "I guess I should enjoy it while it last, huh?"

"The inference being that this is your proverbial '15 minutes' of fame?" Sheldon asked.

"Well, yeah," she answered as if it should have been obvious.

"It is my belief that with judicious use of this 'fame' you might well be able to parlay it into an acting role." Sheldon informed her.

Her green eyes lit. "You really think so, Honey?"

"Do you believe that I am lying?" He asked incredulously.

"No, Honey, of course not. You wouldn't even if you were capable of it." Her eyes were affectionate.

"Indeed," he sniffed, mollified.

The hostess came over to lead them to their table. After they had ordered, they started to plan the rest of the day. "Detective McGuffin mentioned that we might be required to give more information today." Sheldon said.

"God, what could they possibly have left to ask?" Penny almost whined, clutching her coffee like a lifeline.

"I suppose that we will find out in due course. Meanwhile, I suggest that the others need not wait."

"Are you sure, Sheldon?" Leonard asked. His brown eyes were sincere as he continued. "We're happy to stay with you guys." The others nodded with varying degrees of sincerity.

"Aw, we appreciate that, Sweetie, but it's not necessary. No point in all of us being bored."

"If you're sure?" Leonard pressed.

"Quite certain, Leonard, but thank you for your generous offer," Sheldon said.

"Then we'll probably take one last turn around the dealer room, and head back. Priya, I guess you and Raj can ride with me, and Howard can ride back with Bernadette, if that sounds okay to everyone."

"That will be nice, Leonard." Priya said sweetly.

He smiled at her. He had a great girlfriend and no hold on Penny whatsoever; it was time to focus, before Priya started to question why she'd want to date him.

"After breakfast, Penny, we should acquire the messages from the front desk and take them back to our room for a leisurely perusal." Sheldon said absently, sanitizing his hands as their breakfast had just been delivered to their table.

The guys gaped at him, Penny continued to drink her coffee, and Priya and Bernadette exchanged raised eyebrows. "What?" Sheldon asked, noticing the looks.

"'Our room'?" Howard said with a smarmy grin.

"Oh, merely a figure of speech," Sheldon said with barely a twitch. "I meant, of course, Penny's room."

"Sure, Sheldon." Howard teased.

"Howard," Bernadette said; her high voice surprisingly firm. "Leave poor Sheldon alone."

"'Poor Sheldon'?" Howard repeated, incredulously.

"He was kidnapped yesterday," Priya said.

"And there were People in his room," said Penny.

"And he pushed me out of the way, to safety," Yolanda said.

"And it must have been quite distressing for him to have a weapon pointed at him," said Priya.

"And the actual scuffle," Bernadette said. "That must have been awfully frightening."

Sheldon's expression went from confused to the smug look of a well-stroked cat as the women spoke and fussed over him. The guys exchanged a bewildered look as Bernadette poured Sheldon more juice from the carafe, Priya gazed at him fondly (Fondly! And Priya didn't even like Sheldon!), Yolanda ran professional eyes over him looking for damage, and Penny ran her hand lightly up his arm to pat his shoulder. "Not your best day, was it Sweetie?"

He hesitated before answering. Most of the day had been awful, but settling things with Penny…. "There were some good aspects," he murmured.

She hid a grin behind her coffee cup. She had to agree. When she thought about yesterday, the first thing that popped into her mind was Sheldon stalking towards her, predatory and sexy. She sighed. Taking it slow was going to be hell, but she suspected, well worth it.

They all made the last round of the dealer room together. Leonard bought Priya a bracelet that she admired, and she smiled affectionately at him. She had started to wonder if he'd merely been with her because she'd been willing to be with him. There had been suggestions to that effect from Raj, and even Penny had unintentionally hinted at it when they'd been drinking and giggling. Something about a Dr. Plimpton and "she let me," that had hurt Penny in some unexplained way. But he had been making an effort to include her in his interests, and had agreed to attend a conference with her. He said that Sheldon had pointed out that coitus was not enough common ground upon which to build a relationship. She had not cared to spend time with Sheldon, she found him irritating and dictatorial, but she was slowly warming to him. Also, he was correct, there needed to be more to a relationship. Like he and Penny had.

Once they finished in the dealer room, they all said good-bye, and Penny and Sheldon went to collect their messages. The hotel had not given out their room numbers, as a matter of policy, and so every call had stopped at the desk. Sheldon had eleven messages, whereas Penny had closer to thirty. Sheldon took them all and began sorting them in the elevator on the way to Penny's room. "Sheldon? Do you think we're going to need to stay overnight?" She asked him once they were in her room.

"I think it unlikely."

"Good. I can't really afford to."

"Should that eventuality occur, we could both occupy this room. I have sufficient funds to cover it for an additional night." He thought about what he had said, only after Penny stopped and stared at him.

"T-that would be acceptable. There's no point in paying for a room you're not sleeping in."

"Correct. Highly illogical."

"Okay, Spock," she smiled affectionately as she spoke.

They sat at the small table and went through the messages. As Sheldon had said, they were mostly from local news outlets, but three of Penny's were from casting directors, and one was a producer. "What do you think, Sweetie?" She asked him in reference to them.

"Penny, I am unfamiliar with the world of acting."

"Yeah, but I thought that you might have some ideas, like when you helped me during the 'Age of Conan' days."

"I see." He stared thoughtfully at her. He would have thought that Penny would have contacted each of the casting directors and agreed to whatever they offered. However, his words about 'judicious use' seem to have hit home. "I will get my laptop, and we will investigate them and see what type of projects they work on."

"Good thinking, Honey." She said enthusiastically.

"Of course it was."

They discovered that one of the casting directors worked exclusively in soft core porn. Penny crumpled that up and threw it in the trash, immediately.

The other two seemed more acceptable, so Penny called them both back.

One wanted her to read for a bit part in an action movie, and the other wanted her to audition for a series of commercials for the female equivalent to "Mayhem" from the AllState Insurance commercials. The producer wanted her and Sheldon to come on a national morning show.

They agreed that they should talk to McGuffin before talking to any news people. They called him, together.

Forty minutes later he knocked on Sheldon's door. Sheldon went through and led him into Penny's room.

"Hi," she said perkily. He was wearing street clothes and looked completely different. Penny was surprised to find that he was actually quite handsome.

"Hello, how are you guys holding up?"

"Better than expected," she answered with a small grin.

"Good." He took a seat opposite Penny.

"We have requests for the news," she pushed the stack over to him. "But we weren't sure if that would be the best move."

He looked through them. "I think you guys could do these," he pushed five back across to her, "they're pretty much on the up and up. The others…not so much."

"Okay, thanks," she handed them to Sheldon. "So what's going on?"

"Oh, pretty much what we expected. Rogers' precinct is not pleased, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming. And they're honest enough to admit it. They want you guys to come and sign your statements, and I need you sign mine also," here he place a folder on the table. "Other than that, and whatever news you decide to do, you're free to go home. Pasadena, right?"

"Correct," Sheldon answered.

"Not too far if we need you for anything."

"Just call." Penny said with a smile. She had just finished reading her statement, and signed it with a flourish. She stood up for Sheldon to take her spot. He, too, read over his statement and signed.

"Maybe," McGuffin started, "when this is all over, you two could come and have dinner with my family and I. Rosie, my wife, is dying to meet you guys."

Penny grinned."I'd like that. Sheldon?"

"I would be quite amenable to dinner with your family."

"Great. Well, I'd best be getting back. You guys need a ride to the station?"

"That won't be necessary." Sheldon said. "Penny has her vehicle."

"You might want to change." McGuffin suggested gently. He noticed that Penny's eyes widened in panic. His eyes strayed to where she was compulsively pulling down the blue sleeves of her costume. He puzzled over her actions for a few seconds before the light dawned. He had no idea how to help her.

After a few more minutes of chatting, McGuffin excused himself. He left through Penny's door, for the first time.

"Penny?" Sheldon asked as soon as the detective had gone. "Why do you want to wear your uniform?"

Her eyes were wide as they met his. "What do you mean?" She asked breathlessly. His blue eyes demanded honesty. She sighed. "I have bruises from yesterday, and I don't want them on display." It was true, if not the whole truth.

"Ah, and the uniform covers them? Do you not have anything else here that would do so?"

"I guess I could wear the top to the track suit." She allowed.

"Then I will go change and allow you to so the same."

When Sheldon returned several moments later, he had packed his things and brought them over to Penny's room. At her questioning eyebrow, he spoke, "I am not certain that we will return before checkout, since we are going to have to go to the police station. My thought was that I would check out of my room, and if the hotel is agreeable, keep this one for another night, as we discussed."

"Okay." She swallowed. "What about the rest of the time? What can we do if the convention's over?"

"Ah, I thought that perhaps we could have dinner, as we have no need to consider the … menu limitations of the others." He looked at her inquiringly. She nodded with a smile. "There is also a production of Shakespeare's 'Much Ado about Nothing' being presented in a park. It sounded quite pleasant. If you…if you'd like to go."

Penny started at him, her mouth agape. Sheldon Cooper was asking her on a date. And a pretty damn good one, too. "I didn't realize that you like Shakespeare." She said once she'd found her voice.

"Very much so. And I can check for a steakhouse, which I believe that we both would enjoy, as well."

"That sounds really nice, Sheldon. Someplace that I can wear jeans, though. I didn't bring anything nicer."

"Of course." And with that, Sheldon booted up his laptop and began researching casual but nice steakhouses, with exemplary health inspections.

Penny watched him, her eyes soft. He could be so incredibly frustrating sometimes. But also, so endearing.

The hotel was agreeable to their keeping the one room, and in fact gave it to them gratis. If it occurred to either of them that they could now afford to hold onto Sheldon's room, neither of them mentioned it.

The police station was loud and busy, making Sheldon very uncomfortable, but Penny took his hand and he held onto hers like a lifeline.

Once they had dealt with the paperwork, and had a light lunch, they went to meet with the news people that they had agreed to talk to. Four interviews later (Penny hadn't liked the one guy that they'd talked to) and they were back at the hotel.

Sheldon worked on his computer, while Penny relaxed in front of the TV until it was time to go. Dinner was pleasant, Sheldon tried very hard to phrase his requests politely, and they had quite a bit to talk about.

The play was fun, although not the best acted either of them had seen. Still, Penny rated the entire date a huge success. Once back in the room, there was an awkward pause. Penny would have like a kiss, but thought that might actually make it more awkward since they'd be sharing a bed right after. She kissed his cheek and thanked him for a wonderful date.

He had his cat-grin as he went to change for bed. Things had worked out even better than his calculations had led him to expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I do not own "Mayhem" from the AllState commercials, although I'll take him ANY DAY.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Thanks to stock2007 for the suggestion and to SpaceAnJL for being an ever-patient sounding board. Thank you both!

Penny woke up to the feel of hands on her wrists. She started kicking and thrashing before she even realized where she was. "Ow, Penny, please stop." Sheldon aggrieved voice cut through the sleepy haze.

She focused her eyes. Sheldon had his large hands wrapped around her wrists. "Sheldon? What's going …," her voice trailed off as she realized exactly what was going on.

"Penny," his voice was small, "did I….?" He broke off, unable to continue. He released her wrists.

"Oh, Honey, you didn't hurt me."

"The evidence of my brutish behavior speaks for itself." He spat, shifting to remove himself from the bed. His self-disgust was obvious.

Penny did the only thing that she could think of. She rolled on top of him, holding him in the bed. "Sweetie, I promise you, it didn't hurt, maybe it was the adrenaline, I don't know. But I didn't even know it happened until yesterday morning, when I saw them." She adjusted her position to cradle his slim form between her thighs.

"These were the bruises that you wanted to cover." He stated, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides.

She sighed. "Yeah, because I know you'd power-freak. And, honestly, Sheldon, if you'd hurt me, you know …hurt…"she imbued the word with menacing overtones "me, I would NEVER tolerate it. You know me better than that. I'd kick your ass six ways to Sunday."

She felt him relax as the truth of that statement sunk in to his big brain. "I am surprised that it didn't hurt you, but, as you say…adrenaline."

"Yeah." She took a deep breath. Might as well get it over with… "And since we're on this uncomfortable topic…sometimes, once we… er…engage in… sometimes you may leave bruises. They are NOT a sign that you've harmed me. Hell, I may even leave them on you. It happens sometimes when you get caught up in the moment. "

She watched him digest that information. Watching him as closely as she was, she saw the exact second that their relative positions registered. His body tensed, and she felt him trying to draw his hips away from her. He really had no place to go, so he tensed even more. She pulled herself up on her knees, still straddling him, but giving him a little space.

He relaxed slightly once the contact between their bodies was minimized. "Very well, Penny. I do wish that you had told me about them, rather than to attempt to deceive me."

She sighed. "I wish I had, too, Honey. But I wasn't sure you could handle the information. In the future, I promise to give you the benefit of the doubt. Okay?" She asked gently.

"Yes, I believe so. If you will remove yourself, I will begin my ablutions."

She smiled and leaned down to kiss one of the cute freckles on his nose. "Okay, Sweetie." Suiting action to words, she shifted back onto the bed. He got out of the bed and gathered his clothes to change into after his shower.

While he was gone, Penny studied her wrists. What she'd told him was true and thankfully, the truth. It hadn't hurt. They were a little tender to the touch now, but not really painful. She was a little worried about what the guys would say when they saw them, but as far as she was concerned, it was between her and Sheldon.

She lay in bed for a few more minutes, and then stood to stretch. Then she started to gather her things together to pack. Sheldon was already mostly still packed from the day before, so she wanted to as ready as possible when he came back out.

By the time Sheldon returned to the bedroom, Penny had set out her clothes for that day, and packed everything she wouldn't need. She patted his chest as she passed him on her way to the bathroom.

He finished his packing and sat down to wait for Penny. Their segments on the new were being re-run on one of the local channels and he thought that Penny came out rather well on them.

Breakfast was much quieter with just the two of them, especially since the end of Comic*Con meant that the hotel was emptier. Their breakfast conversation was kept to a minimum, as Sheldon disliked "banal chitchat" and Penny was hesitant to broach the topic of how things would be when they got back. While the topic could hardly be called "banal chitchat", it might be a little heavy for a breakfast talk.

It wasn't until the car ride home that Penny raised the subject. She was surprised by Sheldon's response. "Will we not continue as we have been, but with additional interactions; i.e. dates and eventually coitus?" He paused as a thought struck him. "You dislike the word coitus. Is intercourse acceptable?

She tried to resist the urge to gape at him, mostly because he would freak out if she did so while driving. "I … yes, I can live with the word intercourse." She thought about what else he'd said. "You know what? You're right. It doesn't have to be this big thing. We'll just go on like we have been, go out sometimes, just the two of us, " she stressed, "and eventually…yeah. That could work. "

"Excellent, the less disruptive…," he trailed off, aware that Penny would not appreciate being called a disruption. "Our relationship is just going to be fraught with change, isn't it? " He sighed at last.

"Not fraught, Sweetie." She soothed. "You were right… it doesn't have to involve a lot of change. We have a fun relationship as it is. We don't need to lose that." She shot him a teasing glance. "Your schedule won't be too disrupted."

He grinned at her, ignoring the fact that she had taken her eyes from the road for a second.

A little over seven months later, there had been few changes in their relationship. Anything-can-happen Thursday was now every week, which suited everyone. Penny and Sheldon usually had something they'd do, and the others took advantage to do things that they wanted to do.

Yolanda came up every weekend from Arcadia, and they'd all do something on Saturday, and the girls would all go out on Saturday night. Yolanda usually stayed with Penny or Amy (the two had liked each other immediately) and on Sunday the whole gang would go out to breakfast at a Sheldon approved breakfast buffet. And Yolanda happily gave Sheldon several physicals, and was even able to sneak him into the morgue for some tests that they (and sometimes Amy) were interested in.

Penny got the bit part that she read for. The role was small but she loved it. She played an assassin/femme fatale and had a lot of fun with it. Her part had gone from two small scenes and one line to a slightly larger action scene, a smaller scene and a handful of lines. Once the movie came out she had received a few more requests to read for action roles.

The commercials also helped with that. Getting to smash car doors and windows with a baseball bat was a fun way to pay her rent and electric bill. If the commercials kept up, she might be able to buy a new car. She had wisely asked Sheldon and Priya look at her contracts before she signed them. Sheldon helped her figure out exactly what she wanted, and Priya made certain that they were iron-clad. She still had her job at the Cheesecake Factory, because the acting jobs weren't consistent enough for her to live on yet. But Sheldon had had helped her make a budget, and she was able to sock some money away.

Raj and Yolanda started dating, and things seemed to be working out okay for them. He confided to Sheldon that he was dreading introducing his very bossy American girlfriend to his equally bossy Indian Mother. He was certain that it would not end well.

Leonard and Priya seemed to be getting along better, now that Priya accepted that there was no "Penny/Leonard" and Leonard started to include Priya in the stuff they did rather than lie to her about them. She didn't enjoy all of the nerd activities, but she enjoyed more than she had expected to. And now that she was friends with the girls, they could always find something to do if they didn't want to do whatever the guys were doing.

Howard and Bernadette were still engaged, but their wedding day was moving closer. Taking a cue from Penny and Sheldon, Howard sat down to talk with the women in his life. After much negotiation between Howard, Bernadette and Howard's Ma, they had agreed that the three of them could live together. At least for the time being.

Sheldon's fear that being in a relationship with Penny would disrupt his routine and ability to work was both right and wrong. There were plenty of disruptions, but they never interfered with his work. In the beginning, they had laid down some ground rules. In addition to the "normal interaction rules", certain times were set aside for Sheldon to work. Mondays were off-limits, and Penny even got the others to cooperate. On Mondays, they would bring Sheldon his Szechuan chicken and leave him in peace. Tuesday was still Cheesecake Factory day, but the teasing was a lot friendlier than it had been. Sheldon found that his work thrived. As long as he told Penny that he needed to work, she would leave him alone other than making certain that he ate. And when he got stuck, she was more than willing to help him get "un-stuck".

Penny and Sheldon did take things slowly, which Penny found surprisingly easy. And Sheldon had been oh-so-very right about being a fast learner. Once she trained him to recognize non-verbal cues, his skills increased exponentially. It didn't take nearly as long as she'd feared for his innate curiosity to overcome his distaste for all things physical. While Sheldon was very curious indeed, and a super-fast learner, the thing that Penny found the sexiest, the one thing that could make her catch her breath at the most inopportune moments, was an image burned into her brain. The image of Sheldon's large elegant hand gripping her headboard hard enough to make the wood creak. That memory alone could get her fires started almost anytime.

They still fought and pranked each other, she tried to sit in his spot and he knock, knock, knocked on her door wanting rides (although not before 11 a.m.). Sitting on the sofa next to him, Penny wasn't sure where they were heading, but she was enjoying the ride. From his smug little cat-grin, she guessed Sheldon was as well.

End


End file.
